The forgotten stories of the 'Boat Driver'
Alieu made several attempts to leave Libya. Three times, the boat sinks in Libyan waters. On his fourth attempt, a smuggler put a gun to his head. Against his will, Alieu takes control of the boat, even though he has never driven one before. When the coast guard discovers the boat several hours later, Alieu feels relieved. But instead of being taken to a reception center, he is imprisoned. He will spend more than six years behind bars.
Europe wants to step up its fight against migrant smuggling. When a boat reaches the EU's external borders, the authorities follow a well-established routine: who piloted the boat, who held the compass? Many people are accused of migrant smuggling on the basis of hasty declarations and with little legal support. The real reasons and context in which people took the helm are ignored. Instead of tackling organized smugglers, Europe systematically criminalizes the migrants themselves. Thousands are imprisoned. As a deterrent - and mostly wrongly. The fight against smugglers is presented as positive and necessary in political discourse. However, most of the accused are people on the move who have been smuggled themselves. Their perspective is in danger of being forgotten.
In the research-based documentary photo project The forgotten stories of the ‘Boat Driver’, a portrayal of the criminalization of 'Boat Drivers' in Italy and Greece is created. In close cooperation with the people themselves and their lawyers, seven different fates are represented.
The multimedia project is characterized by a book and a visual collection of processed archive and documentary material, documentary photography, protocols, portrait photography, as well as drawings made by the protagonists themselves. The result is a document that denounces the European legislation that enables the systematic oppression and criminalization of people on the run. In a so-called counter-archive, a counter-narrative, prevailing representations and power relations are questioned; the accused become witnesses, politicians become defendants and state institutions become crime scenes.
The project is a cooperation between the photographers Nora Börding and Anne Speltz.
Exhibitions
02.09.2025-19.09.2025 Pöge House / Leipzig, Germany
17.07.2025-16.08.2025 einBuch.haus / Berlin, Germany
22.01.2025-02.02.2025 Galerie für Fotografie / Hannover, Germany
Awards
2025 Shortlisted at Felix Schoeller Photo Award
2025 Carles Costa student award
2025 Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung
2025 CNA publishing grant
2025 Shortlisted at Photobook Dummy Award