The Dream
The Dream
Fabio Bucciarelli
November 27, 2015
Freedom and democracy, the end of a dictatorship and hope for the future are the reasons at the root of many revolutions. Revolutions are fierce processes that force millions of people to leave their homeland. Revolutions are also slow processes, so much so, that people end up forgetting the reasons why they even started; and, as soon as they are over, as soon as the interest of the media vanishes, they not only leave death and destruction behind, but also a huge number of people, casualties of a war they never wanted.
Men who’ve never fought, shot or killed. Women and children who have never won or lost, but unwillingly took part in game that has changed their lives forever. Their only mistake: being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their bad luck: having to choose between remaining in a country in flames or abandoning their whole lives.
In the last five years, I dedicated myself to documenting the causes and consequences of this stream of humanity fleeing conflict. My work has taken me from the Italian island of Lampedusa, to Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Serbia, Macedonia and to the small Greek island of Lesbos, where refugees continue to arrive from Turkey by the boatload every day.
Everywhere among the refugees I found the same looks of desperation, the same stories of sorrow, the same pain of loss, and even times of happiness and hope. Human feelings amplified by the desperation of the moment. I discovered that the people I met were just like many people I know.
My project is called The Dream because, without a dream to sustain them, the individuals who make up this remarkable stream of humanity could never make the torturous journey in search of refuge. The Dream is an emotional journey of the human condition, a state of being devoid of a reference point. It will tell their stories, reveal their humanity and show the strength of those who are sustained by a dream to be free of war, to find safety, to recover their dignity and to build meaningful lives again.”
Photographer Fabio Bucciarelli has launched a crowd-funding campaign to finance his photo book, The Dream. The LFI loan pool has regularly supported Bucciarelli’s work with cameras. The The Dream photo book will have 180 pages and aims to draw attention to the suffering of refugees world-wide. The project is supported by the FotoEvidence Organization. In addition to publishing work, FotoEvidence supports photo projects world-wide that uncover social injustice.
The campaign runs until December 6, 2015. Further information is available at: www.kickstarter.com.
Fabio Bucciarelli+-
Italian, European and photographer. During his travels, he rubs salt into open wounds, reporting on the forgotten, threatened countries and peoples of the world. In 2012 he received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his war reportage on Syria; in addition he was a finalist for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award in 2012 and 2015. He works freelance for Time, Le Monde, The Guardian and Stern, among others. His series is titled The Devastating Human Cost of Famine and Cholera in South Sudan and was taken with a Leica Q. More