This document outlines the Seeking Refuge project, a multi-year effort by photographer Alissa Everett and writer/producer Peter Holmes à Court to document stories of individuals impacted by modern migration and refugee flows. The project will capture personal stories through photography, video, and written accounts to humanize the experiences of over 100 million people forced to move for survival due to issues like conflict, climate change, and lack of opportunity. By focusing on stories of resilience, learning, community support, and refugees' economic contributions, the project aims to bring understanding and highlight solutions to one of the world's most pressing issues.

1. Human stories from modern day
migrations and refugee flows that are
reshaping our world
Project Overview: September 2016
By Alissa Everett and Peter Holmes à Court
SEEKING REFUGE

2. SEEKING REFUGE is a multi-year project of photographer Alissa Everett and
writer/producer Peter Holmes à Court documenting the stories of the
individuals who make up the largest movements of humans ever seen.
Humans have always been on the move…
Camel traders, part of a 5000 year old trade route, Mauritania, 2011

3. Though many people move voluntarily, over 100 million are moving for
their very survival. Each of them has a story to be told.
Following opportunity or fleeing conflict…
Bus Station, migrants departing, Lahore, Pakistan, 2009

4. The number of people on the move is accelerating due to new regions of
violent conflict, the impact of climate change, and the free-flow of digital
information. In 2015, according to the UNHCR, 24 people were forced to
flee every single minute, 4x more than a decade earlier.
The numbers are accelerating…
A newly arrived family in a refugee processing facility, Uganda, 2016

5. SEEKING REFUGE is documenting stories and lives of people forced to
move, what they have left behind, their voyages to safety, and where
they complete their journey.
We are following families as they make the biggest move of their lives
The Lowana family fleeing hunger. South Sudan, 2015

6. The team will document stories on every continent, in photography, stories and
video. The output will be shared throughout the project, via social media and a
number of major media pieces, photographic exhibits and a filmed documentary.
Stories of determination
Syrian families living in informal settlements. Lebanon, 2014

7. The world is overwhelmed with negative media. Humanizing stories of
resilience, passion for learning, and determination to rebuild lives bring
understanding and empathy.
Stories of hope
Displaced Iraqi students, finding quiet for exam revision, by walking in wheat fields. Iraq, 2106

8. While most focus on the drama of the “refugee crisis,” we focus on stories
of success and solutions: refugees as positive economic resources,
integration programs that are working, and communities coming together
to help one another.
Stories of solutions
Syrian refugee, one of the 1200 new businesses started by refuges in the one city in Turkey. Diyarbakir, 2106

9. We travel light and spend time in the communities we cover, working with
individuals and partnering with local and international organizations to find
our stories, obtain access and significantly lower the costs.
Not a helicopter view
A WFP food drop to a displaced community in South Sudan,
2014

10. We have documented resettled Syrian refugees in the U.S.; Arab Iraqi
families building lives in Kurdistan; displaced Yazidi families in camps having
fled ISIS in Iraq and Turkey; and desperate families walking from South
Sudan into Uganda to escape hunger.
We’ve started work already
South Sudanese refugee students in Uganda, 2016

11. Budget
The total cost of the project for two years is approximately US$750,000 which
covers all production costs (including all travel expenses, on ground logistics, wages)
and then all post production and deliverables including website, social media
campaigns, printed book and two exhibits. The net costs, after in-kind support is
US$370,000. Excluded only is the post production of the film media output which
will be determined by the outlet.
Financing will come from the combination of Foundation support, Corporate
sponsorship, and in-kind support from NGOs, equipment sponsors, technology and
outreach partners.
Media partnerships will be formed to support the story telling process of the
project as it is produced, in traditional and social media, as well as the output of
physical deliverables.
The project is driven by telling the stories in print and photography of the people
who are seeking refuge. As we are building these stories, we will create filmed
media content to produce a TV documentary at the completion of the project.
What we need
Syrian refugees informally settled in an abandoned building. Lebanon, 2014

12. Alissa Everett, photographer
Living, working, and traveling through 121 countries, Alissa considers herself incredibly fortunate
to have photograph on all 7 continents. She has travelled on assigned for news and magazine
outlets, untaken humanitarian work and pursued personal projects in some of the most remote
locations on the planet. Much of her travels have been solo, under the weight of her own
backpack and camera equipment.
Alissa’s early work in conflict zones included Iraq, where she self-drove into the south and ended
up embedded with the 101st Airborne, traveling with General Petreas. Other conflict zone work
include multiple trips to Sudan, Afghanistan, assignments in Gaza and the West Bank, and seven
years of visits to the DR Congo. While her assignments remain in the same regions, over time her
focus has changed to the human consequences of conflict and, in the case of Congo, following
and assisting communities for many years.
Humanitarian work includes the Syrian refugee crisis for UNICEF, the Swat refugee camps for
World Food Program, peace and reconciliation work for Humanity United in South Sudan and
documenting the recovery of survivors of sexual violence in the Congo for her own foundation,
Exposing Hope.
Her personal interest in traditional festivals and other cultural gatherings has taken her to India’s
Holi, Brazil’s carnivale, the Lozi people’s Kumoboka.
Born in California, she has lived in Mexico, Senegal, Lebanon and New York City, and has just
relocated to Nairobi, Kenya. A graduate of UCLA and the Peace Corp, prior to photography she
had a career as an investment banker.
www.alissaeverett.com
Afghanistan, 2008
Dafur, Sudan, 2003
Antarctic, 2010

13. Peter Holmes à Court, producer/writer
Peter had a 20 year career as an executive and company director, running companies in the US,
UK and Australia before, in 2011, making a move to become a writer.
Peter is currently signed with Penguin/RandomHouse to write RIDING with GIANTS, his
autobiography. His articles on the World Economic Forum in Davos have appeared in numerous
publication over the last four years.
Peter’s articles and images have been published in The Guardian, The Australian, Huffington
Post, Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald amongst others.
Peter’s executive positions include the being founding Chairman of The Greater Sydney
Partnership Limited and the Brand Sydney Initiative, the CEO of the Australian Agricultural
Company, Australia’s largest cattle enterprise, and Executive-Chairman of the South Sydney
Rabbitohs Rugby League team, winners of the 2014 National Rugby League championship.
In 1993, he formed Back Row Productions which produced live shows in 30 countries and 300
cities with acts including the Australian show Tap Dogs, the UK’s Eddie Izzard (in the US) and the
US’s Jerry Seinfeld (in the UK). Two filmed specials aired on PBS across the US.
As a non-Executive Director he held positions at the BarangarooDelivery Authority, Queensland
Rail, Stoll Moss Theatres (London), and was a Trustee of the Queensland Performing Arts Trust.
Peter read law at Oxford University and received his BA in economics at Middlebury College,
Vermont.
Democratic Republic of Congo, 2013
Far North Queensland, 2010
Niryngongo Volcano, DRC, 2015

14. Contact Information
Informal settlements of Syrian refugees, Jordan, 2014
Alissa Everett
alissa@alissaeverett.com
US: +14156120370 (also whatsapp)
KY: +254790486175
Skype: alissaeverett
Peter Holmes à Court
peterhac@gmail.com
US: +19178914415 (also whatsapp)
KY: +254714616494
Skype: peterhac1
All images: copyright Alissa Everett