Open Call: “Lesvos 2015 – 10 Years Later” – Photography Exhibition in Mytilene

We’re calling on people who were in Mytilene in 2015 – residents, refugees, solidarity activists – to share their memories by sending us up to 3 photographs that capture their experience of the refugee situation during that period.

2015 went down in history as the summer of migration and solidarity in Greece and Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people arrived on the Greek islands, risking their lives and seeking safety and a better future in Europe. Mytilene became a focal point, with communities and facilities welcoming and supporting them. The fisherman in rescues, the doctor providing care, the driver in transportation, the teacher in lessons – everyone opened their doors to share food or water, offer clothes, a blanket, or even a bed. People came from all over Greece and abroad to help.

Ten years later, Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) is organising a photography exhibition this autumn in Mytilene to highlight this period through personal perspectives, everyday stories, challenges, and acts of solidarity.

We want to share and remember, through your camera lenses, snapshots of arrivals, stays, and departures, from the coastlines, the roads, the camps, the villages, and the city. We want to showcase human relationships, acts of mutual aid and solidarity, as well as ways of life and survival, makeshift constructions, improvisations, problems, and solutions. Which photograph you took back then best symbolises what you experienced or witnessed? And what is it that perhaps isn’t visible in the photograph but has left a lasting mark on you?

Submission Guidelines: Select up to 3 photographs you took on Lesvos between May 2015 and December 2015, related to the refugee situation on the island, and complete the form. If you need assistance, please email us at [email protected] 

Submission Deadline: 15 September 2025