In memory of thousands of refugees who died trying to cross the Mediterranean, we decided to create a sea cemetery. The cemetery was constructed in the Mediterranean exactly where many refugees lost their lives. In order to enhance the effect of our storytelling, we searched and contacted actual refugees who have lost their loved ones in midst of their journey to freedom. In our work, we told the story through their individual stories.

In memory of thousands of refugees who died trying to cross the Mediterranean, we created The Sea Cemetery installation, which consists of hundreds of tombstones. The cemetery was constructed in the Mediterranean exactly where the refugees lost their lives. The Sea Cemetery installation and various interviews with refugees was filmed. The video was aired on TV and spread on the Internet to reach as many people as possible. Simultaneously, theseacemetery.com, where people can learn more about the refugee crises and take action, has been launched to get the attention of millions.

The work was successful in drawing public attention back to the Syrian refugee issue as it began to disappear. The increase in awareness was not merely about the social issue. Through the work, Support To Life managed to increase its brand awareness among the socially concerned audience. More importantly, this awareness showed a tendency to turn into action. Traffic to Support To Life website increased which led to a further increase in donations. In just a week, we had 450% increase in supporttolife.org's traffic, 180% increase in donations and 225 new contributors. We reached more than 7 million people, had 27,000,000 earned media impressions and the project in total had a $1.1 million earned media value.

Support To Life is a humanitarian agency that works with disaster-stricken communities to help them meet their needs and rights. Syrian refugees are among these communities that Support To Life have been executing projects for. We used the outdoor installation, the accompanying film and micro site to drive donations for refugees. We sent the materials to Support to Life's mailing list along with journalists, opinion leaders and celebrities to spread the word. At the location of the outdoor installation there was also a link to the micro site where people could get more information and donate to the cause.

Our goal was to get the attention of everyone around the world as the global discussions around refugees was starting to cool down and lose its relevance. So we had a wide target audience. In order to spread the word we used the Internet to create a viral effect. We went to journalists, opinion leaders, celebrities and various NGOs to spread our message for us.

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, over 4000 Syrian refugees have lost their lives at sea trying to reach Europe. Many of them couldn’t be identified, couldn’t even be found. And, while the world is slowly losing its interest in the issue, many more Syrians continue to start out this deadly journey everyday.