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LESBOS: AUTUMN 2015

Lesbos, Moria at night, the smoke hanging thick between the olives trees, trees hundreds of years old which have been all but stripped bare as the branches are used as firewood. In Lesbos, 2015, the segregated registration system meant that all ‘non-Syrians’ were ‘processed’ and registered in a disused army base, built as a detention centre, where white floodlights and three lines of barbed wire created a surreal backdrop to families trying to find a place to sleep outside. Tents and makeshift shelters made out of tarpaulins strung between trees, with groups of newly arrived families looking around in blank, exhausted confusion. In November 2015 Brush&Bow spent time on the island Lesbos as the so called ‘refugee crisis’ started, speaking with refugees as they made the perilous crossing from Turkey to Greece, finding themselves stuck in limbo in Moria camp, hopes and expectations dashed .

Unfortunately the situations has hardly improved in the years since 2015, and Moria refugee camp still remains with its inhumane, overcrowded conditions, threatening the mental and physical health of hundreds of people.

WORKSHOPS AND MUSIC AT THE PORT AND IN THE OLIVE GROVES

There was a general sense of chaos and confusion on the island. The highly disorganised camp facilities combined with a desperation to move on and access basic shelter, legal advice and health care left a tangible sense of frustration and disempowerment. On top of this many people experienced trauma both from the journey, but also from the harsh realisation that arriving on the shores of Europe did not signify its end. Within this context we offered small spaces of musical collaboration, and artistic story telling, hoping to give a moment of escape and relief for the children and adults who had arrived.

THE LIVES WE LEFT BEHIND: A COMIC FROM MORIA

‘Leaving home is the most difficult thing… As soon as you leave, it hits you how much you miss everyone. You know that they are worrying about you every step of the way, and the journey is so dangerous. Those who make this journey are playing with their lives.’

These are the words of Ali, a young man who made the journey to Lesvos with his four friends from the same small village in Pakistan. They spent 10 days in Moria registration camp, where the numerous Pakistanis, Afghans, and other ‘non-Syrians’ waited for days in deplorable conditions for the necessary papers to continue their journeys.
This is the illustrated conversation we had with a group of Pakistani men, using a method of drawing the story into images as it is told, so that the images reflect an experience back and are developed in collaboration. This comic strip was originally published in the New Internationalist. Read the full story here.