In Europe, the discussion often focuses on those refugees who have already made it to the mainland. But what happens before they arrive? Attention typically shifts to them only once they have officially arrived and been granted asylum. This selective perception resembles the structure of a game show: only those who reach the final are noticed and rewarded. The others, who drop out earlier, quietly disappear from view—in the reality of fleeing, this ‚dropping out‘ often means losing their lives.

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the catastrophic fire in the Moria camp, refugee stories barely surfaced in the media. How do these individuals reach Europe? What routes do they take, and what transpires along these paths? These questions lingered. That year, I met Milad Ebrahimi in Hamburg. His role in the documentary "A Short Story of Moria" had highlighted the harsh conditions in the Moria camp. Our conversation unveiled his arduous journey from Iran through Turkey to Germany. His story inspired me to delve deeper into the hidden migration routes leading to Europe.

Motivated by Milad's experiences, I initiated the project to trace migration routes from their endpoints in Europe back to their origins. The journey encompasses routes from Greece through Turkey to Iran and further to Afghanistan. Beginning in Lesbos in 2021, I documented conditions in the newly established Kara Tepe camp. In 2022, the project extended to Turkey, capturing stories from Van to Edirne.

In 2023, plans to join a rescue ship in the Mediterranean failed due to internal conflicts, leading me instead to Lampedusa. There, I met Yasar from Sudan, whose escape through Niger to Libya expanded the project's scope to include the route from Italy through the Sahel zone to Central Africa. The following year, my journey took me to Tunisia a critical hub in the migration network, where I documented the lives of unaccompanied Sudanese minors hiding from authorities.

REACHING FOR DUSK is rooted in my personal experience as someone living between cultures. Born in Greece and moved to Germany at the age of three, I repeatedly experienced the ambivalence of belonging. This personal experience of constant border-crossing intensified my commitment to highlighting the human side of migration and its complex challenges. The project aims to develop a deeper understanding of the real conditions of people on their perilous journey and to tell the often overlooked stories.