Paul Choy’s Exhibition: The refugee crisis through photography

Highlight a human tragedy and share with the Mauritian public the overwhelming experience of refugee camps in Europe. This was the goal of the Mauritian photographer Paul Choy through a photography exhibition and a documentary titled “Faceless Forgotten.”  The series of photographs and poignant movie made in Greece and France are part of the Paul Choy’s new project “Lives Matter”. The grand preview of the exhibition took place at the Citadel on Thursday 30th June. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21480","attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-35761","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"600","height":"400","alt":"Paul-Choy\u2019s_1"}}]] Paul Choy visited the refugee camps at Calais in France where thousands of refugees or even illegal immigrants from Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iraq are crammed in as well as the refugee entry point in Greece so as to better understand the human challenges of this unprecedented crisis. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21481","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-35762 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"350","height":"416","alt":"Paul-Choy\u2019s_2"}}]]“During my stay in the refugee camps, the conditions of life that I witnessed are truly unimaginable. Mothers bathed their children in rain water, people were queuing for hours for a piece of bread. Faced with such a disaster, I wanted to use my film to understand what lessons could be learned from the crisis and how we can apply them to the challenges that we face here in Mauritius,” uttered the artist. The film and the photos are also an opportunity, according to Paul Choy, to highlight the remarkable work of NGOs, associations and citizens that help migrants and refugees. “In situations like this, the civil society has an important role to play because it has the power to help and support those in need. The most important lesson that I have learned in Europe from refugee camps is that one person can make a difference. By working together, we can begin to solve some of the existing problems. I think this is an important lesson that we can apply to Mauritius,” said Paul Choy. “LivesMatter” highlights the social problems in Mauritius such as disability, alcohol, drugs, HIV or crime. By sharing this film with the general public and NGOs, Paul Choy wishes to address the issue of mutual aid and how to apply it locally. Therefore, through this first initiative, an appeal was made to NGOs wishing to collaborate on this project. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21482","attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-35763","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"600","height":"396","alt":"Paul-Choy\u2019s_3"}}]] To see the documentary and series of photographs, you can visit the photographer’s blog: www.paulchoy.com or on his Facebook page: facebook.com/paulchoyphoto