I am very excited to have made the finals of the prestigious Association of Photography Awards with my images 'Barracks of Belgrade' a series of images I captured documenting refugees in Serbia published with Grazia UK.
The Barracks of Belgrade is part of an ongoing project covering the refugee crisis in Europe. Nearly 2000 migrants, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were living in a series of large brick warehouses known as the Barracks, tucked away behind the city's main transport hub. When I visited temperatures had dropped to -16, migrants were burning highly toxic creosote-soaked railway sleepers to try and stay alive.
The Serbian Government requested charities to stop giving out aid so as not to encourage more arrivals so these people had no toilets, no water and no beds. They were living amongst human excrement amid piles of stinking rubbish. It was possibly one of the most desperate situations I've seen. As the borders of Europe had been slammed shut, smugglers were their only hope of escape.
I photographed many people who had made a break for the border only to be captured and beaten by the police. They told me stories of how they had their phones - their lifeline to their world back home - smashed by the authorities and their shoes removed so they were forced to walk barefoot back through the snow to the Barracks
