(It Wasn’t the Sea – 10 Years of Sea-Watch)
On display at Sala Messina, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, from September 4 to 28, 2025. The program includes theater, street art, and debates. Guests include Francesca Albanese, Luigi Manconi, Carola Rackete, Ilaria Salis, and Daria Bignardi.
From September 4 to 28, at Sala Messina in the Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, there will be a free-entry exhibition dedicated to 10 years of the NGO Sea-Watch’s work in the Central Mediterranean.
Through a path that connects images, sounds, objects, artistic performances, theater, street art, guests, and debates, we will take stock of what the Central Mediterranean is today; the European migration policies affecting it, the criminalization of civil society, and the obstacles placed in the way of humanitarian action at sea. We will tell a story of commitment, solidarity, and resilience—of lives saved and lives lost along the world’s deadliest border.
Not a celebration, but a call to action for all those who reject the idea of a fortified Europe, which every day violates human rights in the waters surrounding it.
Sea-Watch spokesperson Giorgia Linardi explains:
“When we arrived in the Mediterranean in 2015 to see what was happening and to make sure no one was abandoned at sea, we never thought that ten years later we would still be there, as uncomfortable actors and witnesses. The tenth anniversary of Sea-Watch is an unusual milestone: as long as there are people in danger in the Mediterranean, at the mercy of traffickers, ignored and disowned by governments, there will be nothing to celebrate. Sea-Watch arrived in 2015 to fill an institutional gap that has only deepened due to policies of abandonment and closure, marking dangerous setbacks in rights.”
Among the works on display will also be an artwork by street artist Laika 1954, who, in addition to designing the event’s poster, will take part in the opening performance on September 4. Investigating and reconstructing the dynamics unfolding in the Central Mediterranean is also one of the goals of research agencies Forensic Architecture, Border Forensics, and Liminal, which contributed to the project with four investigations, presented as videos and interactive platforms.
The exhibition also aims to be a space for information and reflection on what happened during the past decade in the Mediterranean and to symbolize an outstretched hand toward the mainland, so as to allow activists, visitors and onlookers to gather and recognize in a community of resistance. A series of meetings and discussions throughout September will include as guests Francesca Albanese, Luigi Manconi, Carola Rackete, Ilaria Salis, Daria Bignardi, the GKN Collective, and the theater company Kepler-452. It Wasn’t the Sea will be a space for memory and for building, at a time when civil society must make itself heard more than ever.
“What are we talking about when we talk about sea rescue, migration conditions, pushbacks, and immigration policies? It Wasn’t the Sea – explains the exhibition’s curator Elisa Medde – offers a transmedia journey, combining images, audio, video, and objects, with the goal of facilitating and putting back at the top of the agenda this fundamental conversation. This is also done through a process of rewriting the derogatory and distorted narratives that sea rescue has suffered over the years from the media and governments. It is an exhibition born from the need to look, to see; it asks how we look and what we look at, and how we can move from looking to acting – not out of pity, but because of justice.”
It Wasn’t the Sea – 10 Years of Sea-Watch is curated by Elisa Medde and produced by OTM Company and Sea-Watch, with the support and collaboration of the City of Milan.
Press preview: Thursday, September 4, 11:00 AM – Registration details will follow
Opening: Thursday, September 4, 5:30 PM
Opening hours: September 5–28, 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM
Admission: Free
Sea-Watch was founded at the end of 2014 by volunteers who refused to remain indifferent to the tragic deaths of thousands of people in the Mediterranean Sea. Sea-Watch is a constantly growing organization, politically and religiously independent, sustained solely through voluntary contributions. So far, Sea-Watch has been involved in rescuing over 45,000 people.
OTM Company was founded in 2016 and works in all areas of photography. It offers companies the unique opportunity to tell new stories that communicate, through visual language, their values and socially relevant activities, making available a solid network of national and international partnerships that ensure the collaboration of top professionals in the field. It organizes cultural events and photography exhibitions for associations and public and private entities, publishes photography books, owns OTM Gallery, and manages special projects within the international photography festival Cortona On The Move.
Elisa Medde is an art historian specializing in photography and visual culture. A curator, editor, essayist, and lecturer, her research reflects on the relationship between image, communication, and power structures. From 2012 to 2023 she was responsible for the artistic and editorial direction of Foam Magazine – International Photography Magazine, for which she curated 33 editions as Editor in Chief. Under her leadership, Foam Magazine was twice nominated by the Lucie Foundation (NYC) as Best Photography Magazine of the Year—in 2017 and 2019. From 2021 to 2024 she served on the Board of Directors of Salwa Foundation (Amsterdam), a foundation that designs programs for artists with migrant backgrounds, offering a point of entry for emerging artists into the Dutch cultural scene. Elisa received the 2023 RPS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Photography Publishing from the Royal Photographic Society. As of October 2025, she will be the director of the Fundación Foto Colectania in Barcelona.