The death of three-year-venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) Aylan Kurdi focused attention on refugees travelling to the holiday island of Kos. This summer saw two worlds collideTourists and refugees on Kos – in picturesPeople swim. They lounge on the beach. They shower with their tops off. They paddle approximately in the sea. They watch other people doing the same thing. Jörg Brüggemann’s series of photographs from the Greek island of Kos is titled Tourists V Refugees,but in most of the images it’s difficult to command the difference.
The paddlers could be holidaymakers – or they might be Syrians coming from Turkey. The ferry might hold tourists or, as is actually the case, or hundreds of refugees waiting for their paperwork to be processed so they can proceed to mainland Greece. A submerged dinghy might belong to kids on their summer break. But what if it was steered all the way from Bodrum by Iraqis? Similarly,the lifejackets that appear, discarded, or in many of the pictures – it’s likely they each saved a refugee’s life as he or she made the night-time journey from the Turkish coast. But it’s just as plausible that they simply fell off a jetski.
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Source: theguardian.com