2017 Push Festival: The Island, The Sea, The Volunteer and The Refugee

The Kos artefacts featured in The Island, The Sea, The Volunteer and The Refugee show are sourced from Dr David Swann's research. These authentic artefacts retrieved from Kos, are staged to provide a backdrop to Louise Wallwein's narration of an urgent story of our times, migration, from a personal perspective of being a volunteer with Kos Solidarity in Greece. A small island wakes up to find itself at the epicentre of a humanitarian crisis. How do the inhabitants respond? Using first-hand experience, recorded interviews and film, Wallwein explores the migration stories of Kos, Greece. What motivates local people to take action, to provide comfort to the thousands that arrived? What motivates volunteers to put their lives on hold and get involved? What makes refugees set out on a perilous journey, leaving their homes? What would you do? Film by Tim Baxter with additional footage by Sotiris Palaskas