beyond refugee

A short reflection on my work with Refocus Media Labs , teaching film, photography and storytelling to migrants and refugees in the Moria camp on Lesvos.

Beyond refugee

Our students’ next assignment sounded simple: go into Moria camp and ask your friend, family member or neighbor for an interview. Take their pictures and record their answers. Find out who this person is beyond being a refugee. Our students, who had been studying photography and film with us for nearly three months now, nodded in understanding. But when they returned the following week the stories they presented all contained more or less the same inevitable message:  

 “They live in a small tent in very bad conditions, they do not have a blanket, no electricity. They have a lot of stress and health problems. During the night it is especially dangerous because of robbery and rape. Moria is hell.”

When reviewing their work, I wondered what feedback to give them. 

 I knew the stories were true, Moria was hell. I had witnessed it with my own eyes: the garbage piling up, the daily food lines, the absolute lack of sanitation, the state of constant unsafety and uncertainty written on people’s faces. Every day, I watched our students come into our wooden classroom, about one hour walk from the camp, often soaked by rain and trying to resist the itching scabies on their hands, sharing stories of yet another sleepless night, a fight, a fire. Of course, it was by far the mostimportant story to be shared about this forgotten place. But how could I explain to them that these stories were not going to be heard? That these severe daily struggles and injustices would not be felt by the rest of world, because by now it seemed to have become immune for their suffering? 

 The initial media storm that turned Lesvos into a hot topic in 2015 had made little difference over the years. There were still people arriving, and very little leaving. Conditions had not improved, instead struggles for refugees and the local population were only worsening. And by now, very little big media outlets continued to report. I noticed the hand full of researchers and journalists who did continue to show up all tried to capture ‘different’ stories, and to look beyond the crisis taking place, just like we intended to do with our assignment. But confronted with my students’ realities and struggles to do such interviews, it felt as if a romantic and naive idea had taken hold of us, as we searched for softness, positivity and kindness amidst the horror.

 Back in class I complimenting the students with their work thus far. They had found someone who was willing to talk and the photographs were strong. However, I suggested somewhat hesitant, could they find a way to share something about this person that is not about the dire reality of living in a refugee camp on Lesvos? Instead, could they talk to them about something readers all over the world can understand? For example, what this person was like growing up? A special memory of their family? A mundane, daily ritual they hold on to? A funny anecdote, maybe?

 Our students seemed puzzled. And with good reason: how do you ask such questions to someone who wakes up in a leaking tent surrounded by 20.000 others, whose mind is occupied with daily survival? The banality of going after someone’s cheeky childhood memories, love stories or knitting hobbies in a décor of misery and suffering struck me. Was it even ethical to ask this? And what did we think these stories could bring across? 

 I sent the students back to ask more questions and many times sat with them to conduct interviews together. We practiced curiosity and I witnessed how one directional interviewing grew into intimate conversations. With practice and patience, deeper connections were made and personal stories started coming in. Combined with the portraits the students had shot in the camp the stories revealed a much more complex reality, one that was neither completely negative nor positive. And in this space between image and text both vulnerability and strength became visible, both the struggle and perseverance, the particular and the universal. Their projects contest of lives before, after and within this camp, a reality far beyond the label ‘refugee’ could capture.

The growing pressure on Lesvos have let to violent incidents forcing many journalists and humanitarian workers to leave. With the current corona lockdowns, the students of Refocus Media labs are of the very few reporters able to share what is happening on the ground in Moria camp. Their work is commissioned by major news channels around the world. Such as Human Rights Watch, the Wallstreet Journal and BBC news. Kyra Sacks was a teaching artist in the Refocus Medialabs program, continues to guide the students from afar.