50 Metres Away
2021 - ongoing
The story ’50 Metres Away' follows the life of Amara, a 21-year-old from Guinea, who, for over five years, has been living life on bail in Malta – the country with the slowest justice system in the European Union.
The charges against him include terrorism and hijacking, and have been largely disputed by international human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International, which has deemed his case as an “example of all that is wrong with the EU institutions and Members States’ migration policies”.
The project depicts Amara’s Kafkaesque journey as he struggles through life not knowing whether his future lies in prison or outside of it, while living on bail within conditions he describes as an “open prison”, such as not being allowed to approach the sea and having to frequently sign in at the police state to prove he has not fled the island. The outside world is risky for Amara – he fears he could easily end up entangled in a situation where, within a racist environment, he would get the blame and be thrown in prison again.
Despite the limbo caused by the system, which causes extreme mental distress, Amara attempts to get on with life and make the most of his days – at least to distract him from the “problem” that never leaves him.
In Malta pending trials date as far back as 2008. According to the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, “court and public prosecution services efficiency remain one of the key pillars for upholding the rule of law…[and] …enables citizens… to enjoy their social and economic rights and freedoms.” What is the human impact when this pillar does not stand upright?
50 Metres Away aims to shed light and provide a human angle on another underreported issue: the use of harsh laws by Europe against migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Through Amara's story, my project aims to highlight the problems such a system has on the subjects entangled in them. In Amara’s case, the subject is an extremely vulnerable member of society: a minor (as the case started when he was 15) and asylum seeker. My project also aims to humanise Amara’s struggle within a system that does the opposite.
Amara is one of the three youth that have become known internationally as the ‘El Hiblu 3’.
Worked on between 2021 until the present day, the project is compiled of three different elements. Firstly, a reportage that follows Amara’s day-to-day life, an olive tree close by to Amara’s house, the prison and the mosque, that I have been photographing on days when a court sitting is held, which symbolises hope in Islam – Amara’s practicing religion, and scenes of views of the sea from a 50 metre distance in localities that he frequents.
"Sometimes I forget, and sometimes when I’m playing some music or doing some exercise, sometimes I forget. If I’m having conversation with my friend, my roommate, sometimes I forget. But in ten minutes it comes back again. It has to come back, because it’s something that I can’t forget."
