Darrin Zammit Lupi is a photojournalist based in Malta. This archive comprises two bodies of documentary work. The earlier project,
"Malta Detention", consists of color photographs, taken by Lupi from 2004-2013, of African migrants and asylum seekers in Malta detention camps. In these camps, the migrants faced many months in limbo, waiting for the outcome of their journey and holding protests about their treatment. This series includes over 1800 digital files containing low-resolution images, contact sheets, and a group of news articles. The second project,
"On Board the MV Aquarius", comprises color photographs and supporting image files, documents, data, videos, news stories, and interviews compiled by Lupi in December, 2017, while on board the Aquarius, a migrant search and rescue ship operated by the non-profit organizations SOS Méditerranée and Médecins sans frontières; while there, he documented the rescue of 320 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, and their safe arrival in Pozzallo, Sicily. All prints measure 20x24 inches. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive at Duke University.
The Darrin Zammit Lupi photojournalism archive comprises two bodies of documentary work. The earlier project, "Malta Detention", consists of color photographs, taken by Zammit Lupi from 2004-2013, of African migrants and asylum seekers in Malta detention camps. In these camps, the migrants faced many months in limbo, waiting for the outcome of their journey and holding protests about their treatment. This series includes over 1800 digital files containing low-resolution images, contact sheets, and a group of news articles. The second project, "On Board the MV Aquarius", comprises 20 color photographs and over 4000 supporting image files, documents, data, videos, news stories, and interviews compiled by Lupi in December, 2017, while on board the Aquarius, a migrant search and rescue ship operated by the non-profit organizations SOS Méditerranée and Médecins sans frontières; while there, he documented the rescue of 320 migrants on boats in the Mediterranean Sea, and their safe arrival in Pozzallo, Sicily. All prints measure 20x24 inches.
Electronic resources related to these two projects include almost 5000 born-digital image files in tiff, jpeg, and png formats. These include digital contact sheets and low-resolution files, as well as full color tiffs from which images were chosen for printing. Note: Tiff images from the "On Board the Aquarius" project are available through links in this collection guide. All other electronic files must be requested in advance and are accessible only onsite in the library reading room.
The 2017 Aquarius migrant rescue project include many additional related digital files: these include nine videos in mp4 format, taken by Darrin Zammit Lupi. Five document the MV Aquarius rescue and a transfer of refugees from another ship; three are interviews with an Italian rescuer and two migrants; and one is a news report video narrated by Lupi. The interviews describe conditions in detention centers in Libya and on board the escape boats.
Other supporting documents and digital content for the 2017 Aquarius migrant project comprise press releases in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and other languages; shot lists; demographic data summarizing the makeup of the migrants on board the rescue ship; screen shots of Reuters social media posts relating to this story, featuring Zammit Lupi's images; and scans of a 17-page journal kept by Zammit Lupi while aboard the rescue ship.
All image titles, captions, and other descriptions have been taken from the originals.