Wasim’s makeshift hair salon. Photo: Phil Le Gal / Hand Lucas, The New Continent project
The Greek police began to clear the Idomeni camp of its inhabitants on 24 May 2016, and by 26 May the Greek authorities announced that the area was completely empty. Given these developments, we feel it is important to show who and what has been removed, not simply relate that they have been moved. This story below was written days before the camp closed and we present it here unaltered.
Men and boys queue in front of Wasim’s makeshift hair salon by the entrance of the Idomeni refugee camp in Greece. The young Syrian hairdresser managed to bring his tools with him on the long journey that brought him here from Aleppo, where his family owned a salon. When he realised that the closing of the border between Greece and FYROM was going to ground him here for an undetermined period of time he decided to put his tools to good use and to offer his services for a small fee.
