Say Goodbye Before You Leave [Signed]

Self published 2022
First Edition
Limited Edition 950 copies
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 190
20 x 31 cm

Following the Arab Spring, this project started documenting the very first boats carrying migrants to EU waters, and the last episodes of the tragic fire in the Moria refugee reception centre in Lesbos. It combines images of migration throughout various stages, showing people’s arrivals, the first years of the ones who made it to their destinations, and the situations of those who are still waiting on the other side.

I have been documenting people’s journeys for several years, moving from one country to the other in step with those people who allowed me to photograph them, capturing the initial reactions and circumstances of the first days in Europe and how these quickly turn into the first years. All of this was very familiar. These people’s present walked in parallel with my past.

I was 11 years old when my parents decided we had to leave our country. When you leave something behind, suddenly it feels like the umbilical cord has been cut. All the same, you don’t have the time to say goodbye; you must go on and embrace the pain within.

While photographing the Covid-19 situation in Moria, I met 6-year-old Masha and her family from Afghanistan. Masha was a child full of life and curiosity, with many friends from all over the camp. Visiting them and their families in the tents gave her the only joy she felt there. The day before my departure, her words to me will remain always in my memory as a bittersweet feeling: “Come and say goodbye before you leave.”

… to all those kids who embark on a journey without knowing.