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The Orange Tree
Photo © David Berry
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ORDINARY BRAVERY: IN LESBOS AND ATHENS, REFUGEES LIVE IN LIMBO [PHOTO ESSAY]
Words BY JADE ANGELES FITTON, All Images copyright 2016 David Evans Berry
“We don’t have the option to go home, we lost everything!” —Mohammed Yamma, from Afghanistan
Can art provide a constructive and authentic response to the refugee crisis? In response to this well-trodden question, David Evans Berry, a photographer from Wales, travelled to Lesbos and Athens earlier this year to capture the ongoing crisis and what happens to the people left stranded in a no man’s land.
Taking time to hear the stories of those who had fled to Greece, and keeping the humanity of his subjects as his guiding motivation, David was intent on avoiding any imagery that might aestheticize human suffering. The result is The Orange Tree, a moving portfolio—showing what every day life was like in the Greek camps for the men, women, and children who had to endure them—shot, David says, with the belief that, “Art can change perspective: I wanted to avoid the dominant narrative of pity, to celebrate a shared humanity. Many major socio-political problems in our world come about because of people trying to create the idea of ‘the Other.’ I don’t want to neglect the ability of art to change society for the better.”
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ORDINARY BRAVERY: IN LESBOS AND ATHENS, REFUGEES LIVE IN LIMBO [PHOTO ESSAY]
Words BY JADE ANGELES FITTON, All Images copyright 2016 David Evans Berry
“We don’t have the option to go home, we lost everything!” —Mohammed Yamma, from Afghanistan
Can art provide a constructive and authentic response to the refugee crisis? In response to this well-trodden question, David Evans Berry, a photographer from Wales, travelled to Lesbos and Athens earlier this year to capture the ongoing crisis and what happens to the people left stranded in a no man’s land.
Taking time to hear the stories of those who had fled to Greece, and keeping the humanity of his subjects as his guiding motivation, David was intent on avoiding any imagery that might aestheticize human suffering. The result is The Orange Tree, a moving portfolio—showing what every day life was like in the Greek camps for the men, women, and children who had to endure them—shot, David says, with the belief that, “Art can change perspective: I wanted to avoid the dominant narrative of pity, to celebrate a shared humanity. Many major socio-political problems in our world come about because of people trying to create the idea of ‘the Other.’ I don’t want to neglect the ability of art to change society for the better.”
About author:
I am primarily a Documentary photographer with an interest in portraiture in context of the place in which my subjects live. I am influenced by ideas in zen and meditation in relation to my photography work. I see photography as a type of meditation a taking in of as much detail as possible about a moment in time and placing a high value on the beauty and sensory richness of the everyday experience. I am interested in representing people who don't usually have a voice and who's story's need to be told. I do this in a way that seeks to dignify my subjects and allows their unique value to be expressed. I am a graduate of UWN studying Documentary photography I have exhibited 2 solo shows in the UK and some group exhibitions as well as recently working on a film, The Orange Tree linked to this project.BACK TO GALLERY
