FLOTSAM
© 2015 by Anna Pantelia.
Mobile phones, torn-apart passports, shoes, clothes, armbands and lifejackets are just some of the items that you will see while walking across the northeastern coast of Lesvos. Thousands of vulnerable people arrive in plastic inflatable boats, where the dream of a better life becomes a nightmare and the nightmare becomes a dream.
Flotsam reveal personal stories of a survival trip. Personal belongings traveled hundreds of kilometres, crossed the East, reached to the gate of the West and remained there forever, along with hundreds of others which are on the bottom of the Aegean sea.
Most refugees leave their homelands with only a few things. On the way, many of their belongings are lost; those who managed to get to Izmir and sneaked into a boat might be dumped on the sea. However, some of them have reached the Greek coast. Here, the load will decrease again and in many cases, the identity must be lost in order to eliminate any possibility of returning back home.
This project connects belongings found on the coast of Lesvos with real stories of refugees passed from the island, one object - one life story.