The Power of Faces - Greece 2017-2018

The Souda Refugee Camp was located at the edge of the Aegean Sea in downtown Chios, which was ordinarily a popular tourist destination. The camp was staged there out of necessity – there was a few acres of public land available alongside the historic Chios Fort when refugees began to flow into Chios. The Souda camp residents had convenient access to downtown Chios’s shops, services and public spaces to distract from the stagnation of living in a refugee camp. It is important to note that stagnation is often interrupted by moments of terror, fear, despair, anger, anguish and sometimes happiness. Souda was closed down in January 2018 and all detainees were moved into the Vial refugee camp, elsewhere in Greece or, for a very few people, to another country.

The Vial Refugee Camp is located inland and is managed by the Greek military, which maintains tighter restrictions on movement of refugees and access by both NGOs and the public. Located in a hilly region of the island and surrounded by olive groves and open fields, Vial in certain ways can best be described as out-of-sight, out-of-mind. The remote location eliminates the availability of shops and services. Residents are heavily dependent on the camp management for food, resources and most services. Living in a refugee camp, in a communal tent or container box, among thousands of strangers of different (and sometimes violently conflicted) nationalities, ethnicities and cultures, with limited food, medical services and other necessities, and being provided one 1.5-liter bottle of water per person per day, in 90+ degree weather, imposes countless indignities and hardships on individuals who had to flee their homelands due to conflict and persecution.