Genesis are proud to partner with Fujifilm UK to support Maria Falconer and Paul Hill’s Anon exhibition, which aims to highlight the plight, anonymity and depersonalization of the refugees in Greece, with Direct to Media UV Prints on Foamex for the exhibition.
ANON:
‘Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care.’ So wrote a female columnist in a British national newspaper in 2015. She was referring to refugees and migrants, who she likened to cockroaches.
Although she was vilified for the comments, it does highlight how refugees are de-personalised and lumped together, whether they are from the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, or whether they have been bombed, threatened with death, made homeless, or are starving. They become The Refugees – anonymous, stereotyped, the them’ to our us.’
We travelled to the Greek island of LesVos to join voluntary groups already helping the hundreds of refugees arriving daily in rubber dinghies, after a perilous journey over the Aegean Sea from Turkey. Later, we moved up to the Greek / Macedonian border just before it closed.
The media interest, and the disturbing images that have been published, have alerted us all to the crisis. But we did not want to replicate those photographs. Primarily, our role was as volunteers, not newspaper photographers. But that, we felt, would give us an insight that journalists in Greece for just a few days would not get.
Over a million refugees have made that journey since January 2015. Trapped in a system where who you are doesn’t matter, but where you come from can make the difference between life and death.To get out of their homelands and cross borders they had to become invisible until they reach their goal – Europe.
Having reached us, they feel free to reclaim their identity and individuality, only to be herded together and categorized as a homogenised group, and a problem’ that is tearing Europe apart. This is the biggest issue that Europe has had to face so far in the 21st Century.
Through our photographs, we aim to reflect the anonymity and depersonalization that is the fate of these individuals and families.’ – Paul Hill, Maria Falconer 2016.
ANON: Exhibition
4 – 16 October
Espace Points de Vue,
6 rue de la Barbican,
82110 LAUZERTE,
France.
ANON: Print Sale
Alongside the exhibition, Paul and Maria are raising money for the refugees plight through a print sale – with all proceeds will go to trusted voluntary groups working directly with refugees. Money will be used to buy food, clothing, tents and other emergency supplies, as well as provide medical and legal support.
Prints are available in 3 sizes, A5, A4 and A3. You can pay anything from £25 upwards, it’s entirely your call. All of the proceeds – after printing, postage and paypal fees – will go directly to assist refugees.
Every Picture Tells a Story – Workshop:
Building on the success of the 2-day story telling workshop Paul and Maria ran in Newcastle in May this year, they have extended the programme to make it even more action packed and fun. Situated in the beautiful French town of Lauzerte, the workshop will open on the evening of Tues. 4th October and culminate in a group exhibition on the evening of Saturday the 8th.
The workshop will run in conjunction with the main exhibition at The Espace Points de Vue, where Paul Hill and Maria Falconer will be exhibiting work alongside the French photographer Maurice Cuquel.