A backpack is forgotten on the train. It seems a simple enough problem to resolve, especially in Germany, oft famed for its orderliness and efficiency. But when you’re living as a refugee or in exile, the documents the bag contained are not mere pieces of paper to be reissued. They very well may be irreplaceable – a displaced person’s only means of existing within a coldly bureaucratic society. To lose them can be devastating, turning borders into walls.

In this comic, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei relates such an experience. Exiled from China since 2015, he is all too aware of the vital importance of documents like passports and visas for those forced from their native lands. According to Ai, “Wait is the most frequent word heard by those seeking an exit, and often the last.” One’s freedom of

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