The project ’The Departed’ is an ongoing long-term project about clandestine migration from West Africa to Europe. Through photography, film, sound and text ’The Departed’ tells the story of modern day heroes who sacrifice themselves and risk their lives in order to provide a life and a future for their loved ones.
Based on recurrent anthropological fieldwork and photographic research in West Africa and Europe since 2006, ’The Departed’ represents a personal attempt at merging anthropological methods of enquiry nested in participant observation with an aestheticized form of photographic ’reportage’. The aim is to foster a nuanced understanding of the emotional infrastructures embedded within migration, while at the same time critically investigating the potentials and limitations of the photographic medium as an instrument for the production of scientific knowledge and communication.