Personal belongings found on the greek island of Lesbos, during the last months of 2015, when the steady flow of migrants from different nationalities (coming from nearby Turkey by small boats and overcrowded rubber rafts) reached a peak.
This work arises from a personal need to explore unconventional approaches to the thematic of migration in front of a constant, loud, but homogeneous representation of migrants and refugees on social and traditional medias.
Along the road I listened to the stories and talk with those who arrived, without necessarily taking pictures of them directly. Instead of following the spectacular events such as the landings, I preferred to search away from the crowd.
Day by day I began to stumble upon an incredible amount of vernacular pictures, passport photos, letters, notes, and other personal belongings, either discarded or lost by migrants upon their arrival. Many passports and id_pictures were discarded by migrants to to get rid of the more official documents, other belongings were just lost along the way.
I found them along the rocky shores, among the vegetation or on the dusty roads that people walk to reach the nearest refugee camp. I photographed and filmed the findings in the place of the discovery and on the surfaces available in the immediate vicinity as a symbolic act of rescue.
Every finding is a fragment of life and identity. Each one evokes the persisting link and connections that exist between a past life – that life that once seemed unbreakable – and an uncertain future.
Each one deserves a rescue.
