Isbrisani

When Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, the new formed country ethnically targeted a group of over 25,000 people denying citizenship. These people were deleted from the national archive along with any legal record of them residing in the country, stripped of all legal status, and denied basic human rights- becoming stateless. They are known as Izbrisani or The Erased. As all legal records of citizenship were erased leaving the Izbrisani unable to apply for citizenship or residency. The Izbrisani could not legally work, receive healthcare, marry, own property, vote, and were denied other basic rights, the effects pushed many Izbrisani to the brink of poverty, enduring long-term social and health problems. The Izbrisani remained without legal status in Slovenia for over twenty years until a landmark European Court for Human Rights case was won in 2012. A year after this decision I photographed and interviewed Izbrisani in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, and a German refugee asylum. This work was part of a Fulbright Fellowship and National Geographic Expedition Grant. It’s the largest documentary photography project ever done into the biggest human rights violation of modern Slovenia.

Excerpts of the project were published in National Geographic, and Huff Post.