Maciej Moskwa

Maciej Moskwa’s work, Hasun, is a poignant photograph of a 12-year-old refugee, taken in November 2014. The photo is part of Moskwa’s photojournalistic report documenting the consequences of the brutal attacks by the Islamic State on Kobane, during which over 300,000 people were forced to flee to nearby Turkey. Although nearly 3,500 Kurds found temporary shelter there, they were not granted refugee status, which deepened their marginalization and exclusion. The boy gazes at the viewer through the fence of a refugee camp in Suruç, Turkey.

The lack of access to basic needs, such as education, warm meals, or running water, highlights the dire living conditions in the camp. The intense gaze of the young boy becomes a tool for telling the story of those who have been pushed to the margins of global politics, deprived of a voice and visibility. Hasun himself grows into a symbolic figure – representing the encirclement and isolation that many victims of humanitarian crises face.