“THE RESCUE”

Location: Grecia

The Rescue is a collection of personal belongings found on the island of Lesbos, Greece, during the last months of 2015 when the steady flow of migrants from different nationalities (coming from nearby Turkey by boat) reached its peak.

The Rescue arises from the personal need to explore unconventional approaches to the thematic of migration and representation of migrants.

In Lesbos, instead of following the most dramatic and spectacular events, I preferred to work where the silence reigns and the dust settles.

Day after day I began to stumble upon an incredible amount of family snapshots, passport photos, letters and diaries, 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 people walk to reach the nearest refugee camp. I photographed the objects 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 capable of evoking not only the long and dangerous journey made by migrants, but above all the persisting link and connections that exist between a past life -that life that once seemed unbreakable- and the future so full of hope as of uncertainty. Each one deserves a rescue.

ABOUT FRANCESCO GIUSTI

Francesco Giusti (Italy, 1969) is a documentary photographer oriented toward the investigation of contemporary, social and identity related issues.

He has explored different approaches: from photojournalistic essays to portrait stories to long term documentary based projects. He has worked primarily in Africa, in Europe and the Mediterranean, in the Caribbean region and in Latin America. He has been awarded with prizes from different organizations such as the World Press Photo in 2009.

His works have been exhibited in galleries, public institutions and international photographic events such as Houston Fotofest, 4th Fotofestival Germany, FIFV, Photovisa, Getxo, and many others.

Publications include: Internazionale, l’Espresso, Time Lightbox, Courrier International, OjodePez, GUP, Colors among others. He collaborates with Prospekt Photographers.