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When you look through someone, who is empty? The one you don't see or yourself? That is the thought that this monument represents. Inspired by the poem 'The Hollow Men' by English poet T.S. Eliot, sculptor Linette Dijk has created a monument to the refugee. In memory of the thousands of migrants who died at sea or in the desert during their flight to Europe. The two-part monument is placed in the garden next to the Roman Catholic Church of Our Saviour on the Koningin Marialaan.

The idea for a monument to the refugee came from pastor Sjaak de Boer. He launched it during the annual commemoration for the fallen refugee on 10 December 2020. Aid organisation Cordaid offered funding and at the same time called on artists to submit a proposal. More than twenty responded. Linette's design was chosen.

Besides painting portraits, figures and landscapes, Linette also makes bronze sculptures. All her work is about beauty, stillness and awareness. The posture and movement of her sculptures show that dance is an important source of inspiration. She also dances herself. Only for the Monument to the Refugee does she seem to be tapping from a different keg. Although the figure's skin is just as 'rough' as in her other sculptures, there is no question of a light-hearted pose here. Here we see an adult man with a bag on his back slightly hunched over the small child he is carrying in his arms.

Seen from the Bezuidenhoutseweg, the busy road between the Royal Palace and Parliament, you look straight through the first part to this father figure with child. In this way, the artist shows us that we often look straight through refugees. As if they do not exist.