This project began a few years after my exile to France when I stumbled upon some images from my phone that had been automatically backed up. I had forgotten about them for years. Throughout the journey, I intentionally refrained from documenting anything. It was not a memory I wanted to preserve in my life; all I desired was to arrive and forget. However, as the years passed, I couldn’t continue ignoring these memories any longer.

They resurfaced as insomnia, stress, and panic attacks. I felt an urgent need to confront and remember them, realizing the significance of archiving as a means to overcome traumatic experiences. The images I discovered were originally taken to send to my family. They didn’t fully portray the situation but rather concealed the harsh reality, attempting to assure them that we were safe and doing well. Interestingly, these very images became the catalyst for my interest in photography later on. 

I began penning down my memories of the journey, creating an autobiography that documents the reality of my personal experience in Turkey while trying to cross to Greece between December 2015 and February 2016. The story starts from the moment I took the decision to leave Syria, recounting my experiences in Turkey with my brother, the challenges we faced while attempting to take a boat to Greece, the conflicts with the smugglers, the friendships we forged, the long periods of waiting, and the hopes and witnessing of events during our journey. During this process, I discovered Cyanotype, a photographic printing formulation dating back to 1842. It is a slow-reacting and economical technique that produces cyan-blue prints. I chose to use this process in my project to add an artistic and personal value to these simple images by reproducing them manually. Additionally, the blue color resulting from this process symbolically represents the idea of water and the sea, which was a significant aspect of our journey. 

Expositions

• Palais de Tokyo - Dislocations (Paris Fev-Juin 2024)