ZEKE Fall 2019

Angelos Tzortzinis
Trapped in Greece
“As a Greek, I have myself
lived through the unprecedented
and painful transformation
the country has
undergone, either as a result
of the economic crisis or the
refugee crisis. The process
has profoundly affected me
as well, as I am a part of this
change.
“It brought to mind memories
from my childhood,
growing up in a poor neighborhood
of Athens, where
dozens of Iraqi refugees had
also set up their homes in the
1990s. They lived in cramped
basement apartments, often
five or six in one room, in
squalid conditions. We’d play
basketball in the streets and
do the usual things children
that age do, but I always
wondered how these people
ended up in Greece and
what they left behind — their
families, their lives.
“I have been photographing
the trapped refugees
in Greece for the past four
years. Since 2016, some
90,000 refugees and
migrants have been trapped
in Greece since countries
in the Balkans closed their
borders.”
“I have been trying to
focus beyond the obvious
problem and help these welldeserved
stories be told.”
ZEKE FALL 2019/ 63