Paradox is supporting the collective initiative Now You See Me Moria with realising its action book. Find out more about the project below.

Contribute to fundamental change in EU migration policy
In August 2020 Amir, a refugee stuck in Moria and Noemi, an Amsterdam based photo editor decided to publish pictures of life at the camp on Instagram. @now_you_see_me_moria almost immediately drew the attention of various media outlets, individuals and organisations across Europe. Today the account has a following of more than 30,000 people. But that’s not all: a growing number of followers have started collaborations with the initiative. From a small collective Now You See Me Moria has become a civil movement demanding fundamental change to European migration policy. 

In February of this year 446 designers developed 446 posters based on the pictures of Ali and Qutaeba, who had in the meantime joined Amir. The posters went public on Valentine’s day. But it didn’t stop there. Individuals as well as organisations showed that they wanted to turn the posters into exhibitions. In order to make it as easy as possible to support their vision, we developed a publication in which the pages can be turned into exhibitions for a wide range of venues: from art museums to cultural centres or public space. 

The design and structure of the Now You See Me Moria – ACTION BOOK emphasises sharing rather than keeping, inviting everyone to become a messenger. It is a ready-made object of protest. Let the book also be your tool to contribute to immediate action!

Visibility
Moria is the largest refugee camp in Europe, situated on the island of Lesbos, Greece. Since its beginning in 2015, the living conditions in the camp have become inhumane, in part due to its extreme overpopulation. Moria was designed to accommodate 3000 people yet housed up 20,000 at its peak last summer. In September 2020 a fire destroyed the camp, forcing approximately 7000 people to relocate to a new camp. Here at Kara Tepe, better known as Moria 2, the conditions deteriorated dramatically and human rights are being violated on a daily basis. Journalists and photographers are not allowed to enter the new camp while NGO workers are instructed to not take pictures: the visibility of the camp in international media has thus been reduced to almost zero.

Open call: Love for Moria
In January 2021 the collective launched a call to action to increase public awareness regarding Moria. Designers from around the globe were invited to create posters based on the photographs taken in the camps. The response was overwhelming: nearly 500 graphic designers responded to the Love for Moria call for human rights. The posters were made available through the Now You See Me Moria website, encouraging people to download and print them, to hang in their windows, on balconies, at schools, universities, cultural institutions, and in the streets. They were also used in demonstrations in front of governmental and EU buildings in major European cities on February 14, Valentine’s day.

Exhibitions
Paradox teamed up with the collective behind the project to develop a large format book that could serve as the base for multiple exhibitions as well as actions. Crowdfunding for the ‘action book’ holding all 446 posters as well as a selection of images started on April 23 on Voordekunst.nl. Within three weeks’ time, 295 donators raised €23991, 119% of the target. Thank you all very, very much for making the book possible! The first of the 1200 books and 600 exhibition kits were sent out on June 14.

In the meanwhile, more than 15 exhibitions have been confirmed, amongst which Fotodoks (Munich, DE), FOMU (Antwerp, BE), Le Chiroux (Liège, BE), Weltmuseum Wien (Vienna, AT), La Casa Encendida (Madrid, ES), The Broadway Theatre (London, UK), KASKO (Basel, CH) and many other organisations large and small. Historically unique was the reaction of three prestigious Dutch venues, Nederlands Fotomuseum (Rotterdam, NL), Foam and Stedelijk Museum (both Amsterdam, NL) who released a joint press release stating they will all show the project. Normally museums want exclusivity, this time they stand shoulder to shoulder showing solidarity. Now You See Me Moria is about creating maximum visibility by as many of us as possible, organisations and individuals alike. Pushing politicians to show the courage to fundamentally change an unacceptable migration policy of which the effects are ignored by keeping them as invisible as possible. Let’s turn that around. Together!