Seb Curi, Marylou Faure and more “use the jersey as a canvas” to raise money for World Cup migrant workers

Last week, studio Ico Design gathered 32 artists for a creative response to the treatment of migrant workers ahead of the World Cup for charity Equidem. Now, Dublin-based Hen’s Teeth is raising funds with its own project, using the visuals of football to draw attention to human rights violations.

Both come as the World Cup begins in Qatar, with protestors gathering outside of the Qatar embassy in London on the eve of the launch to highlight the state-sanctioned abuses of LGBTQIA+ Qataris and call on fans to boycott the tournament. Last month, Human Rights Watch reported on the physical abuse and mandated conversion therapy detained LGBTQIA+ Qataris have been subject to in the country. Meanwhile, Equidem has created a report on the discrimination and exploitation migrant construction workers faced working on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadium sites, including forced labour and workplace violence.

Goalissimo by Hen’s Teeth aims to aid Amnesty International’s ongoing investigation of labour abuses of low-paid migrant workers in Qatar by selling a collection of jerseys. 13 artists have used “the jersey as a canvas” to reimagine their nation’s shirt, a release explains. Each of the jerseys will be available for pre-order on the Hen’s Teeth site – with all profits from the sales of shirts donated to Amnesty International.

The line-up of contributing artists includes Hola Lou, creating a jersey for Mexico, studio Monga for Brazil, Jaemin Lee for South Korea, Seb Curi and Macarena Luzi for Argentina, Kelly Anna London for England, and Sophie Douala for Cameroon. Hen’s Teeth states the starting squad also includes Vlad Sepetov, We Are Out of Office, Specht Studio, Eike König, Marylou Faure and Gav Connell, plus scarves designed by Yeye Weller. The final designs will be shown in an exhibit, with an identity from illustrator Gav Connell.

Greg Spring, founder and creative director of Hen’s Teeth states: “The World Cup is one of those few events that genuinely brings folks together in a positive way, but we can’t ignore the incredibly dark side of this year’s event and what has happened in the build up to the competition in Qatar. So it felt like the right time to do a show like this with some of our favourite artists from around the globe and hopefully raise some much needed funds for Amnesty’s campaign for compensation for the migrant workers who have been impacted.”

You can read about Amnesty’s campaign calling on Fifa and Qatar to establish a compensation fund for abused migrant workers and their families here. The site explains: “Since 2010, thousands of migrant workers have died suddenly and unexpectedly in Qatar, despite undergoing medical tests before travelling to the country. But even though there is evidence of links between premature deaths and unsafe working conditions, the Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the underlying causes of these deaths.”

The Goalissimo jerseys will be available to pre-order online from 3-17 December; audiences can now register ahead of orders opening here.