The Refugee Project ®

The Refugee...

2008-03-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

From the special edition of Refugees magazine dedicated to the 1951 Geneva Convention:

A refugee is a person with a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion..." Article 1A (2) of the Geneva Convention.

The Book...

2008-03-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

Illegal (Yasadisi) was published on March 2006. A book of photography, illegal tells the stories of two women, illegal refugees, trying to survive in Istanbul.

Turkey, with its membership to the European Union pending, was one of the signatories of the 1951 Geneva Convention. However the country chose to use the "geographical limitation" option while signing the 1967 protocol, expanding the geographical definition of the word "refugee".

Currently, refugees from different parts of the world other than European countries taking refuge in Turkey are not recognized as such, but are categorized as asylum seekers, thus being resettled in third countries once their cases have been tried and accepted.

The book takes a point in time from the lives of two African women, single mothers, barely grown-ups themselves, faced with bureaucracy and policies way out of their reach, trying to hold a firm grip on life.

The Photographer...

2008-03-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

Bikem Ekberzade (born in Istanbul, Turkey, 1971) is a Turkish journalist, photojournalist and documentary photographer.

After having completed her high school education in Istanbul she went to the United States where she received a bachelor’s degree in Management from Boston University. During her studies she has worked with development projects for NGOs such as OXFAM America and has worked on 2 summits for the World Economic Forum. In 1992 she has completed her internship in London with John F. Chown & Associates, specializing in privatization in post-communist economies. Upon graduation she continued to work with OXFAM America, first on development and implementation of fundraising projects, and later as part of the production team at the Video Unit where her team has completed several educational video documentaries on sustainable development and women’s empowerment in third world countries.

In 1995 Ekberzade went back to Boston University, this time to complete her master’s degree at the College of Communications in the field of Broadcast Journalism. She worked for CNN Financial News (CNNfn) in New York City as an intern during her master’s program, and was later hired by CNN Southeast Bureau in Atlanta as a production assistant to help out with 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Her post was later extended to CNN International assignment desk.

Aside from CNN, during her graduate studies and up until 1998 Ekberzade has worked as a photojournalist for print and wire services such as the Boston Phoenix, the Associated Press, The New York Times, and Newsweek.

Among Ekberzade’s early documentary work includes a 22 minute video documentary which talks about the glamorous stage life of 3 drag queens, rightfully titled DRAG (a Boston Medcalf Awards Nominee.)

At the onstart of the Kosovo crisis Ekberzade moved back to Turkey to work as a freelance photographer covering the refugee flow and military maneuvers at the Albania-Kosovo-Macedonia triangle. She later shifted focus to other regions of conflict such as Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Aside from photographing wars and humanitarian crises Ekberzade also reported on them.

Ekberzade is also the curator of a documentary photography project called The Refugee Project ™ which starts off with the war in the Balkans in 1998 and later expands on to document the lives of IDPs in Azerbaijan as well as the refugee crisis between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Further additions to the project has been an extensive documentary of illegal refugees living in Istanbul, and the refugee families from Darfur, Sudan, seeking protection in camps in Eastern Chad. Photographs from The Refugee Project has been published widely in Europe, United States and Turkey, as well as the body of work being invited to several exhibits at home and overseas. Several prints have been accepted to the permanent collection of Kansas University and the Oxford Museum. In March 2006 ILLEGAL, a book of photographs by Bikem Ekberzade, documenting the lives of two young African women, single mothers and illegal refugees trying to survive in Istanbul, has come out from PlanB publishing.

Ekberzade’s editorial work continue to be published in various print and on-line services including the New York Times, Newsweek, Businessweek, Christian Science Monitor, NTV-MSNBC, Times Picayune, and DoubleTake Magazine. She has also contributed to several books such as the Danish version of The Mantle of the Prophet by Roy Mottahedeh and the BTC compendium.

In May 2002, Ekberzade was selected the photographer of the month by EPN World Reporter.

In June 2004, she was presented an award for her documentary work on refugees by UNHCR.

Ekberzade is also the founder of a civil grassroots initiative called For Women, By Women (Kadinlar Icin, Kadinlar Tarafindan) which has brought several hundred Turkish female photographers together to make a stance on violence against women. The initiative is aimed at raising funds, through sales of photographs, for agencies and foundations whose aim is to fight violence against women. Since its start in March 2005, two NGOs have already benefited from the funds raised by the project.

Currently residing in Istanbul, Ekberzade continues to work as a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer. Her latest project is an extension of The Refugee Project, almost a continuation of ILLEGAL, a feature length documentary about refugees in Turkey. The documentary aims to focus primarily on individual stories and through them have the existing legislations in Turkey regarding refugees discussed by officials.

The Exhibit...

2008-03-03T03:51:00.000-08:00

Life After Kosovo: Refugees in Northern Albania

A UNHCR sponsored exhibit in Istanbul, Turkey (Feb. '99)

Kosovo's Children
Doubletake Magazine, Issue 17

Joint Exhibit on Politics and Conflict
House of Docs, 2002 Sundance Film Festival

The Refugee Project
Virginia Commonwealth University in Doha, Qatar 2002

The Refugee Project
Network of Oxford Women for Justice and Peace (NOW) The Museum of Oxford, U.K. 1-14 March 2003

The Refugee Project Exhibiting Exile: Installation

Center Space, University of Manitoba, Canada, December 2004

The Refugee Project, Mobile Exhibit

Ankara, Emin-Hekimgil Galerisi 5-18 March 2007; Izmir, 4 spaces on Kibris Sehitleri Caddesi 1-16 May 2007; Istanbul, 7 spaces on Istiklal Caddesi, 20 June – 22 July 2007

The Refugee Project

Bursa, Sami Güner Sergi Salonu 14-24 Nisan 2008

The Refugee Project-Darfur, Installation

Istanbul, Lycée Français Saint Benoît d'Istanbul, 21 Nisan-15 Mayis 2008

The Film

2008-03-01T03:26:00.000-08:00

Refugees is a 33 minute short film/slideshow edited with hundreds of the still photographs from The Refugee Project. Screenings have taken place in Istanbul, Lucania/Italy and in Winnipeg Canada on several occasions. It supports the exhibit and the various installations the photographs partook in.

Photography: Bikem Ekberzade, The Refugee Project

Editing: Neslihan Karaduman

Titles: Erdinc Demir

Music: Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky, God Speed You Black Emperor

The Photographs 1: Kosovars 1998

2005-08-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Ferdiye and Dasori tell the tale of how Hayriye Hanim hid Besart under her skirt the whole way up the mountains as they left Rahovec, Kosovo at gun point. Later the conversation weers towards politics and the future of Kosovo. At that point Suriyete gets lost in tought while watching the snow fall outside. The Kindergarten/Collective refugee center, Kukes

"The children make any strange space home," says Hayriye Hanim as she sits with her new neighbours from the "kindergarten", a 2 story building that was converted into a refugee shelter a few months ago by aid agencies in Kukes, Albania.

Gani Romayi is a strong man, bright and positive. He says he has the fighter in him. A full supporter of KLA, he says under different conditions he would be fighting in Kosovo. But he is the oldest living male member of his family. So he has to stay and take care of the women and children. When asked about his home back in Kosovo and the rest of his family, he turns solemn and sad. He says he has no news of them. Last they were seen was in Gjakova, one of the heavily hit places by the Yugoslav army.

Drita is another aggressive supporter of the KLA. She likes being the center of attention. Her parents say she always was headstrong. But following the days long track over the mountains to Tropoje, and the immadiate transfer of the entire family to the refugee shelter in Kukes, her attitute towards strangers became a lot more open and insistent. Her hero is the unnamed KLA soldier who guided them through Kosovo. The hotel, Kukes.

Suriyete is barely a year old. But in her condition her first birthday is no celebration. If she doesn't get an operation soon on her fingers, she will stay disabled for the rest of her life. Suriyete was on schedule for an operation in Kosovo. But then the family's house was razed and all of what the Kuhala's have, been looted. Muskele Kuhala took her newborn daughter and with the rest of her family sought refuge in the mountains. They later found shelter as refugees in Bajram Curri. Now with no means to get Suriyete an operation they can only tell her story. Bajram Curri, Albania.

The Photographs 2: A full fledged war, Macedonia-Albania-Kosovo 1998-1999

2005-08-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

RAMNO, Macedonia, March 21, 1999 -- Kosovar refugee families crossing the border into Macedonia are taken down to Skopje on tractors and Red Cross vehicles from the mountains bordering Kosovo. The group of families crossed the mountains in four days despite the snow:

BLACE, Macedonia April 5, '99 -- Blace border camp the day before it was emptied by the government:

BLACE, Macedonia April 6, '99 -- Relatives of a Kosovar refugee woman help get her out of the Macedonian police block surrounding camp Blace:

STANKOVITZ, Macedonia, Italian Field Hospital April 7, '99 -- Kosovar children receive tratment for cholera at a field hospital set up by the Italian Army at Stankovitz. Children were the most vulnerable to the unhygenic conditions at the Blace border camp:

KUKES, Albania -- Nylon sheeting provides temporary shelter for refugees in camps in Kukes:

KUKES, Albania -- Recent arrivees are still in shock from their experiences in Kosovo as they have been placed at the "Potato Warehouse", a refugee shelter.

KUKES, Albania -- Moving down South. As fighting escalates in Kosovo, refugee families are transferred to camps around Durres:

MORINA, Albania -- A refugee convoy crosses into Albania at Morina border crossing with news that their convoy has been bombed on the way. Mira's newborn baby sister was killed in the bombing, and moving under fire they had to leave the body in a shallow grave, hastily dug by the side of the road:

MORINA, Albania May 31, 1999 -- Kosovar men released from a prison in Peja are forced to march into Albanian territory by the Yugoslav army:

SKOPJE, Macedonia, March 23, '99 -- Kosovar refugee families wait to be registered at the main police station in Skopje, Macedonia:

KONDOVO, Macedonia, March 20, '99 -- An old Kosovar man waits to have his picture taken as is a Kosovar woman for refugee registration in Kondovo, a village outside of Skopje mostly populated by Albanians:

SKOPJE, Macedonia, March, '99 -- Aid distribution:

BLACE, Macedonia -- OSCE withdrawal from Kosovo:

The Photographs 3: Relocation, A Story

2005-08-15T03:27:00.000-07:00

As the war progressed and the border refugee camps in Northern Albania became overcrowded, the UNHCR, in light of heavy bombing in Southern Kosovo and along the Kosovo-Albania border, decided to relocate some of the refugee families to camps further down South, near Durres. Sadi, and her two sons were one of the families to leave on the first convoy, escorted by NATO troops.

The Photographs 4: Leaving it all behind, Kosovo 1999

2005-08-01T02:40:00.000-07:00

Elez Hasan Bunjaku holds a picture of his brother and sister in law with their new born kid. When Serbian troops entered their village in Racaj they detained all the men. The women had fled to the surrounding hills. Hasan’s brother was tortured and killed in prison. When the war ended and the prisoners were released, the only news Hasan had of his sister-in-law was that pregnant as she was, she too had fled with the rest of the women to the mountains, but not a word on whether or not she made it safely to one of the refugee camps.

In Racaj, the village roads were mined, and access to food for the Bunjaku family was near impossible. Lack of food and potable water as well as living under constant fear of being detained or killed by the Serbian police, trapped the families inside the village in their houses or on the surrounding hills, waiting hopelessly for the war to end.

Leaving them all behind, the junction to Gjakova, Kosovo, 1999.