Les routes de l’exil: The Mediterranean Sea
SINAWI MEDINE
5 February – 19 March 2017
Sinawi Medine was born in Eritrea in 1983. He left his homeland for political reasons, traversing several countries, including Libya and Sudan, before finally settling in Nice in 2009.
He began as a self-taught photographer in Africa, where he worked in various studios, and soon developed an interest in reportage photography. He assisted other photographers and participated in a computer course to advance his career in Europe.
Since 2015, he has specialised in commercial photography. His sensitive approach as an artist is demonstrated more than anything else in his photography rooted in social themes – a oeuvre that is in a state of constant development and which determines both his course in life and his values.
With his photographs, Sinawi Medine investigates the situation of refugees in Europe. The pictures document the humanitarian rescue missions of the civil European organisation SOS Méditerranée with its rescue ship ‘Aquarius’, in cooperation with Doctors without Borders, in the Mediterranean Sea.
His photographs depict people on the run – often in boats on the dark, tumultuous sea. Men, women, and children who suffer from illnesses, were injured during their flight, have lost relatives through war or during their dangerous journey. People who have experienced unimaginable suffering and are reliant on help from others.