Breaking Point

Between 2017 and 2019 I travelled regularly on the island Chios and then Leros, Athens and Oenofyta, where I met several persons waiting for their papers, mainly of my age. We stayed in contact and I visited them many times and followed their situations evolutions. This project is questioning their waiting and its consequences: the loss of control, the boredom, the uncertainty but also the hope about the future.

Talking about the waiting means talking about time. Here, it stopped and the same days are taking place over and over until the final decision.

My photographs are the result of the time with my contacts or during their absence. This was about a recognition and consciousness of the patience and the tension caused by this unbearable waiting.

Breaking Point comes from the time I spent with Feras, lively talks with Edmond, afternoons spent with Mariam and her sisters, explanations from Mustapha, empty days and some full along Diallo and Sylla, difficult times, wonderings in Athens, exchanges inside Oenofyta camp with Nazar and in Vial with Sadam, and from the time granted by so many people.

I recently co-published my book Breaking Point, with Stockmans Art Books. I see the publication of this book as a necessary achievement and allowing me to pay tribute to their resilience.