The photography festival known as Photoville in Brooklyn Bridge Park brought up controversial issues around the world such as immigration, climate change, gender identity and much more. In their many exhibits, one in particular that captured my interest was the Isle Landers by Darrin Zammit. This particular exhibit awakened me in seeing the decade of immigration crises of African refugees and migrants arriving in the country of Malta.
When speaking with Mr. Zammit he stated that this project was something that was important to him, due to the fact that Malta was his home country. He started off by shooting for a Non-government organization in Uganda and felt that he could show the crisis of immigration in Malta. Darrin Zammit took the first steps in his project by working on the Phoenix( A migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea) that was operated by a non-government organization called MOAS were Zammit was an eyewitness of the dramatics of migrant entering into Malta. Zammit worked on this project for more than 15 years and saw many tragic events but the worse for him was watching the migrants slipping and going under the water. A specific time that Darrin Zammit recalled being on of his hardest experiences was on an Easter Sunday while he was out rescuing migrants, there was one migrant who slipped bring down bring down ten others with him. Zammit stated how he could see through his lenses the hands reaching out for him and he quickly threw down his camera and started to help pull the migrants aboard.