These photographs were taken during my time working as part of a film crew documenting the Flying Seagull Project, a charity clown troop who were travelling across Europe, bringing laughter and play to children and families displaced by the refugee crisis between 2016 and 2017.

The encounters between the Seagull performers and the children were profoundly moving—fleeting yet transformative exchanges where joy was offered in the face of trauma, and play became a form of resistance, resilience, and healing. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the world of the Seagulls on the frontlines of this humanitarian crisis.

It was in these moments that I began to understand the true impact of play: how silliness, games, and connection could restore something essential in the lives of children who had lost so much. These images attempt to hold space for that complexity—to witness both the gravity of the context and the light that shone, however briefly, through it.