The sea that kills
2016 / Book

Journalist Evangelos Areteos and photographer Eleni Papadopoulou went to Greece at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis to cover the event for Politis newspaper. They visited the refugees and their camps in Idomeni, Lesvos, Piraeus and Athens. The reportage was initially published as a series from 10th to 14th March, 2016. They came to me with the idea of making those stories into a book. After reading the text and seeing the images, I proposed not to create just a book narrating the migrants’ journey, but to find ways to embed traces of that journey into the book. I wanted to create a permanent “wound” on the book that would reflect the painful experience the people went through on their journey. To achieve this effect, the book was bound on the opposite side of the folded pages, which were left intentionally uncut. To be able to open the book, you had to tear the pages. By doing so, you were physically wounding the book. You were cutting faces into two, splitting families and creating different life paths. Photo credits: Silvio Augusto Rusmigo

Merit Award in the category Book Design at the Graphic Design & Illustration Awards (EBGE), Greece