Meet the Photographer Documenting the Refugee Crisis

Julia Shirley-Quirk is one of the photographers behind the recent exhibition Sea of Humanity at Hamilton House. She’s been working with The Bristol Skipchen since their first trip to Calais in April 2015. A volunteer, activist and documentary photographer, Julia has been collating a first-hand story of the refugee crisis. 

Organised by Catie Jarman, Sea of Humanity displayed Julia’s photos amongst a collection of “Photos, visuals, sounds and words from activists building community kitchens in Calais and Lesvos.” With the former home of The Skipchen just over the road, the exhibition seemed a fitting way for the travelling Pay-As-You-Feel café to return home and share their work.

Julia’s work on display at Hamilton House.

The Bristol Skipchen’s initial trip to Calais was Julia’s first dive into the world of photo documentary (see the full story on Vice). Keen to volunteer, Julia reached out to The Skipchen on Facebook, offering to go along as helper and photographer. Since then she jokes that she has become their “Personal photographer,” touring the UK with the group this past summer and spending a month in Lesvos at the end of last year. (“And friend,” she laughs).

Julia’s work at the refugee camps is the subject of a long-term autobiographical project of “Documenting people; people in crisis, people in their everyday lives.”

“The goal is to capture the variety of people on the planet and the similarities between us all.”

Of the photos in the Sea of Humanity exhibition, Julia stresses: “The aim is to bring the humanity back into the scope of the crisis. It’s all about the humanity.”

“For this project I look for the hope in the individuals, or the tiny details that mean something big.”

The photographer prefers to work in film but digital photos provide an immediate way of sharing what’s happening, of raising awareness, with the community back home. Julia notes that part of The Skipchen’s goal is: “To give people an outlet.” Her contribution through photography connects the frontline volunteers with people who want to help at home.

The overarching theme of Julia’s photography, the ‘Sea of Humanity’ exhibition and The Skipchen is community; of reclaiming community in inhumane conditions. The first kitchen in the Jungle in Calais was a community space to bring together divided nationalities in the camp. Now, in the changing camps of Lesvos, the aim is: “To find out where the need is, build a kitchen, and keep it going in whatever way.”

(Photo Credit: Julia Shirley-Quirk)

Julia is already planning her next volunteer trip: “Once you come back you just don’t feel like you’re doing as much, there’s still important work to do.”

The photographer has plans in the works for an art therapy project in the autumn, taking a travelling cinema to camps as another way of regaining humanity. She is also in the process of connecting with those she met in the first trip to Calais, who have now made it over to the UK. Ultimately, she would like to get some magazines and books once the full arc of photos is complete.

Any exhibitions or photographers she’s interested in around Bristol? She’s off to see Art for Refugees at Paper Gallery.

Head to Julia’s website to see more of her work.

Find out how you can help The Bristol Skipchen via their Facebook page. 

We went to: The Boston Tea Party, Gloucester Road.

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