ملح
Wreckage of a dream
“Wreckage of a dream” is the end of a journey and a reflection of the uncertain route taken by migrants from the North African Coast into Europe. After facing the tremendous dangers of crossing by boat, they start their next journey. They must evade the dangers of the police once on land. Crossing from one border to another, the hope is to access the security and freedom that awaits them in the north of Europe. Migrants from Syria, Sudan, Eritrea, Afghanistan and many others asylum seekers have fled war, persecution and poverty in the hopes of making this desperate journey, in order to be normal, a normal human being.
government to deal with the increased migration to Europe from Africa and the Middle East ended in October 2014. The operation was superseded with the Frontex Joint Operation Triton in November 2014 which has received wide criticism, highlighted by the recent shipwreck of April 19, 2015 in which more than 850 refugees have drowned. The European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, commented that this tragedy has “finally fully woken up the EU to the evil of human trafficking”. The wreckage testifies to the desperate, life-threating or life-saving journey that many are willing to make.
This project documents traces left by migrants at the port of arrival into Europe, in Port of Pozzallo, Sicily. The journey ends or continues at the port of departure in Calais, France, where migrants either successfully, unsuccessfully or fatally attempt to enter Britain.
The graffiti and migrant belongings marked and left in Calais testify to the hard and rough life of living in the makeshift camps, known locally as “the jungle” that scattered across the port town. United by a common dream of a better life across the Channel, every night, hundreds jump onto lorries, cars and caravans heading to the UK, hoping to leave their trace of a desperate squalor life behind. Once hopeful, their hopes can be betrayed, finding a dead end in the journey to the UK. However, the talk of a good life, where there are jobs, housing and education motivates these migrants to search for the next crack of opportunity to mark their future of a better life.
In Sicily, every week, new boat wreckages are added to the mounting pile of wreckage, following each rescue mission by the Italian Coast Guard in the Strait of Sicily, the channel in the Mediterranean Sea. The Operation Mare Nostrum, an air and naval “safe and rescue” operation commenced by the Italian 1
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Belongings on wreckages of fishing boats used by human traffickers in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo.
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Squat in Calais a day after the French police raid. France, Calais. March 2015
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Human trafficker boats taken to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo after the rescue operation on the Mediterranean sea by the Italian coast guards. Italy, Pozzallo. April 2015
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Francois Razon 2015 Master Photojournalism and Documentary Photography University of the Arts London London College of Communication