Andrea Motta: 1st Moments in Greece
© Andera Motta
The project “1st Moments in Greece” exhibits the faces and body language of refugees who entered Greece on small boats crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey, seeking peace in the European Union and an escape from the wars in the middle east.
The voyage across the Aegean Sea is a dangerous and exhaustive trip that takes an average of 90 minutes, (if everything goes right), The trip is marked by fear, hope and great expectation of what will be found on the other side of the Sea in Greece.
Already on Lesbos, after their arrival on the beach, the travelers walk from 1 to 20 kilometers to arrive at the “registration papers check point”. Registration is required in order to proceed on their trip to Europe. Although they still have a long way to go the expressions of faith, freedom, tiredness, worry, relief and deep peace are revealed in every person’s face.
This was what drove me to photograph some of the million refugees arriving at this bay. I wanted to feature each person as a unique individual with his/her strong soul ready to continue.
© Andrea Motta
Andrea Motta on the project
I was born in Sao Paulo, 1970. I am a documentary photographer specialized in long-term projects that confront human rights whose work has focused on human trafficking for sexual exploitation and immigration for the last past years.
I was one of the few women photographers in Iraq in 1998 -1999. I was documenting the country under embargo and depleted uranium mainly in Baghdad and Basra, which was shown in 2001 at Visa pour l'image in Perpignan and at the Project Symposium in Santa Fe. For the same documentary “Iraq After The Storm” I have received from PDN Competitions 2001: "The Best of Photojournalism in the year 2000" and The Director's Award of the Project Competition 2000, Santa Fe of Visual Arts.
This year I will complete a 20 year documentary of immigration in Greece and under the Human Trafficking theme, I have received the 2nd best portfolio review in the Bratislava Photo Festival 2015. The essay: "Brothels in Athens: The Legal Background For Women Trafficking" was shown several times in Athens since 2011. It became an itinerant exhibition around Greece by the Secretariat of Gender Equality in 2012. In 2007 “Human Trafficking” was exhibited at The Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, which also became an itinerant exhibition around the world.
As an independent photographer my work has been published in The New York Times; NZZ Newspaper (Switzerland); Epslon Magazine, GEO (Greece); Elle (Italy). As well as in some ONG campaigns against human trafficking such as Terre Des Hommes; International Organization for Migration; The United Nations Children's Fund; among others.
I studied at The Pan Americana School of Arts, in Sao Paulo. In 1995 I moved to New York City as a full time student at The International Center of Photography (ICP). I also attended Film and International Affairs at NYU. I worked as photo editor at Redux - former Saba Press; I assisted Brian Young in Phototechnica Black & White custom Lab, printing and retouching for exhibitions, photo collectors and book publications including "Inferno" by James Nachtwey whom I assisted for almost a year until I moved to Greece where I am currently based since 2001.