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@sofiscarlat

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TEASER segment from my video essay at board the first patrol of Humanity 1, August 2026. This segment provides the first insight into the interception we witnessed from the so-called Libyan coast guard. The full documentary includes a glimpse into life on board and the profiles of the 73 survivors we rescued, as well as the many steps our crew took both to protect lives at sea and to fight for conducting the rescue intercepted by scLCG. It will be screened in a network of museums and community centers.

It is a big honor to get to tell this story. If you’d like the full documentary to be shown somewhere in your community, please search out and let me know!

#searchandrescue #civilianrescue #centralmediterranean #humanity by @sofiscarlat

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a month ago

I am returning from several weeks on a search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean — assisting refugee boats in distress/ at risk of interception by Libyan militias operating in international waters. My crew at SOS Humanity completed the rescue of 73 people, a significant number of whom are minors (including one baby) and women (including one who is 8 months pregnant). Our vessel is equipped with proper rescue equipment and a hospital, as well as crew with medical, protection, engineering, maritime expertise.

The survivors on board are fleeing genocide, war, torture, exploitation in their home countries and/or in transit countries. They come from Sudan, including several from Darfur region, South Sudan, Mali, Chad, Somalia, Côte D’Ivoire, Ghana, and Ethiopia. Many have begun this journey years ago, traveling across several countries before they could arrive to the present day — stranded for days on an overcrowded dingy with no working engine, with no food or water, in the middle of the sea.

In the evening of our first rescue, our crew witnessed an interception by Libyan militias operating as the so-called Libyan coastguard. These are illegitimate, armed militia groups, responsible for widely documented crimes against humanity. On our way to a distress case of 30 people, one such militia vessel beat us to them, conducting life-threatening maneuvers and ramming into the boat repeatedly before abducting the passengers and ordering us to leave the area. This occurred in international waters.

The following day, SAR plane Albatross and vessel Sea Watch uncovered over a dozen bodies floating in the water of the search area. The Central Mediterranean is a graveyard. It is the deadliest known migration route in the world.

I was on board both the mother vessel and the rescue boats and will publish a full documentary of this SAR rotation.

The world is for all of us. Long live freedom of movement and long live the North Star, that which is both in the sky and in our hearts. by @sofiscarlat

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2 months ago

hi taken in Paris, France by @sofiscarlat

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4 months ago

by @sofiscarlat

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5 months ago

sometimes there is hardship, but the world is awesome and every day is the greatest day ever by @sofiscarlat

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7 months ago

me and 6 other amazing friends brought 500 people in the middle of nowhere patagonia, to colive for a month (mostly in houses based on research interest) and to try and solve tough problems from across disciplines. i got to test out a personal interest in a new layer to peacebuilding, which I understand as translation between disciplines and concepts, for the purpose of illuminating truths and opportunities that exist between current domains.

under my direct mentorship were also 5 specific projects: a) improving hearing aid calibration for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in rural Argentina (hearing improved by 18db!); b) building a multi-proof agent system for solving Erdős problems; c) empowering non-artists to create a biomechanics-inspired art exhibit d) creating a local discovery system for cultural and ethnic connection (shoutout @rrheakapurr) e) support for women with PCOS.

other people worked on everything from government transparency directly for Argentinian public offices, to longevity, to remote viewing and vasocomputation, and further.

we generated over 1 million USD in local economic impact and helped fund several local startups.

I also got to do so much of my own growing and thinking.

there’s simply too many thanks to offer — and they’re all meant to be delivered in person anyway. by @sofiscarlat

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a year ago

taken in Patagonia, Chile by @sofiscarlat

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a year ago

taken in Dakar, Senegal by @sofiscarlat

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a year ago

there are things one would give anything to live again for the first time — first time i listened to “in the air tonight” in my dad’s car mid-summer storm, first time i broke the barrier of understanding someone speak in a second language, first time someone i loved held my hand. being entrusted with a new chapter in life in nyc (by whomever bestowed this beautiful thing upon me) has felt like what one would think the gift of true reliving would be!

i’m thinking so fondly today of all of the people i’ve met and all the doors that have been open, all the ways in which i’ve kept to my values. suppose an orchestra always needs a conductor. what is there to do with all this life? on the hottest day of the summer, passing fire hydrants bursting on 135th street to listen to a lute concert in Ulkar’s apartment. sitting quietly on a wooden stool for 5 hours at a time for a sculpture. telling my housemates all about it. rolo’s in ridgewood. merging my bookshelf with Carmen’s (the final and greatest act of love, yes yes). being carried onwards by the evening like flowing, unopposed, down a river with its current, to new friends and sounds, to the jazz club, to the theatre, to any number of dumpling spots.

i spent the bulk of my time leading the charge on a project to design a more efficient system for collaboration between war crime prosecutors, with a small team of experts. i’d sent dozens of emails over the years to them, begging to let me join their team. for some part of my assignment, i used my grounds pass to informally mediated dialogues between the protesters outside the UN building and the staff inside. people have trusted me, given me resources, shared ideas to strengthen it all, introduced me to worlds. i’d hope to think i’ve done the same in relevant capacities.

these are the conditions from which poems arise. sorry i didn’t take many pictures. taken in New York, New York by @sofiscarlat

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a year ago

by @sofiscarlat

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2 years ago

Tigray (Ethiopia), where I am at the invitation of local victim groups (members not pictured here), to provide direct support on the post conflict transition. Some parts of Tigray, a quick drive away from where you see these photos being taken, are still under occupation and frequent cases of enforced disappearances are recorded by local groups. taken in Tigray Region by @sofiscarlat

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2 years ago

I went to Kenya for a month for a very different reason than to make a documentary — but people around me were being taken, beaten, followed, and murdered for peacefully protesting. A 12 year old boy was shot 8 times by stray police bullets. The internet was turned off at times to stop information from coming out, and the international media that reached my home communities wasn’t telling any full story. This is a country where a member of Parliament makes 5k USD/ month, while the average Kenyan, no matter how resilient and hardworking, makes ~200 USD/month.

None of it felt like something I could ignore — especially because Kenya has always been so special and welcoming to me, and because one of my friends was among those first abducted. I asked local contacts and friends if it would be both appropriate and particularly helpful for me to be on the ground collecting testimonies, with the ultimate goal of taking these stories out of the country and distributing them. The answer was a universal yes so, with the immeasurable help of my friend Kevin, we went out and filmed our surroundings during this time of change, and interviewed diverse protesters across the city and its suburbs.

What you see here is just a small teaser/ compilation of clips from the actual documentary, which will be longer and will come out in the next month. Every single frame in the doc has been, at every step of the way, advised, checked, and approved by everyone in it and by my wonderful contacts on the ground. The story went wherever they needed and wanted it to go.

Asante sana na bado mapambano. taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @sofiscarlat

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2 years ago