The renowned Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has created a wall from 2,000 life jackets that were discarded by Syrian refugees while attempting to escape the war in their homeland by crossing the Aegean Sea as part of an installation in Quebec City, Canada.

The Life Jackets installation consists of floatation devices found on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos. These were hung on to a 17th-century stone fortification in Quebec City for Passages Insolites, an annual public art festival held in the historic city.

This dramatic installtion, which will be up until October, is designed to represent the borders that block refugees as they actively try to flee the ongoing civil war in Syria in the hope of finding refuge in Europe.