A symbolic act of rescue and re-appropriation of photographs and personal belongings lost or discarded by migrants after their arrival at Lesbos, Greece
I spent the last months of 2015 following the migration crisis along the Balkan route. Arrived in Lesbos I decided to step away from the pack. I felt there was an homogeneous and repetitive approach to the subject. I preferred to work away from the hustle and chaos, where the silence reigns and the dust settles. I began to stumble upon an incredible amount of family snapshots, passport photos and personal belongings either lost or discarded by migrants upon their arrival. I found them along the rocky shores, among the vegetation or on the dusty roads that migrants walk to reach the nearest refugee camp. I photographed them in the place of the discovery and on the surfaces available in the immediate vicinity as a symbolic act of rescue. Each picture is an evidence of the life that these persons had before fleeing for their lives. That life that once seemed unbreakable. The images keep their mystery, they will never tell the real story that instead runs away with their owners. These are rather evocative images than descriptive. Small lanterns that can give light and emotions and lead to reflections that can go far beyond what they show.
All images have been taken on the island of Lesbos, Greece. October/November 2016.