honorable mention
Kiki Streitberger united kingdom
title
Travelling Light
In 2015, more than 300,000 refugees undertook the perilous journey across the
Mediterranean to Italy. Syrians call this journey 'The Journey of Death'. For a lot of
money, they put their lives and those of their families into the hands of smugglers,
who promise to take them across the sea. Crammed into small, unseaworthy boats -
often for many hours, if not days, without food and drinking water - they hold out in
the hope that they will get rescued before the boat gives in. Who are the people
that risk their lives in the Mediterranean? I wanted to know what people, who leave
everything behind to embark on such a gruelling journey, manage to take over into
a new life, and what these items mean to them.
Each still life photograph depicts all the items one refugee has left from the journey.
Social media enables most refugees to keep in touch with their friends and family
back home. Mobile phones are amongst their most treasured possessions and many
have gone to great lengths to protect them on the journey - so this format, as a
reference to Instagram, seemed appropriate. All objects are laid out on a white
background as somebody might prepare their items before going on a trip. Those
people, however, never had the chance or the time to give their items this much
thought when they embarked on their journey. The images are paired with
interviews. They contain memories, references to their homes and journeys and a
little glimpse of their hopes and dreams.
Her work explores the line between art and documentary photography, telling stories of cultural and social relevance through the eyes of the individual. She uses photography as a way to engage with the world around her and is particularly interested in the human element in a story … in the uniting factor.
Kiki received an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the University of Westminster in 2015.
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entry description
Travelling LightIn 2015, more than 300,000 refugees undertook the perilous journey across the
Mediterranean to Italy. Syrians call this journey 'The Journey of Death'. For a lot of
money, they put their lives and those of their families into the hands of smugglers,
who promise to take them across the sea. Crammed into small, unseaworthy boats -
often for many hours, if not days, without food and drinking water - they hold out in
the hope that they will get rescued before the boat gives in. Who are the people
that risk their lives in the Mediterranean? I wanted to know what people, who leave
everything behind to embark on such a gruelling journey, manage to take over into
a new life, and what these items mean to them.
Each still life photograph depicts all the items one refugee has left from the journey.
Social media enables most refugees to keep in touch with their friends and family
back home. Mobile phones are amongst their most treasured possessions and many
have gone to great lengths to protect them on the journey - so this format, as a
reference to Instagram, seemed appropriate. All objects are laid out on a white
background as somebody might prepare their items before going on a trip. Those
people, however, never had the chance or the time to give their items this much
thought when they embarked on their journey. The images are paired with
interviews. They contain memories, references to their homes and journeys and a
little glimpse of their hopes and dreams.
about the photographer
Kiki Streitberger is a German photographer currently dividing her time between London and Germany.Her work explores the line between art and documentary photography, telling stories of cultural and social relevance through the eyes of the individual. She uses photography as a way to engage with the world around her and is particularly interested in the human element in a story … in the uniting factor.
Kiki received an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the University of Westminster in 2015.
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