How Refugees Use Mobile Devices As Memory Depositories

Anytime you look at photos of places in the world that have been ravaged by war, it can be an emotional experience.

In a collection from photographer Alex John Beck, Syrian refugees offer an intimate look at the photos taken on their mobile phones. Those images are much more than a record of what has happened to their country. They also offer a much-needed way to preserve memories and record history for the future, in a way that will far outlive today's injustices.

We tend to think of the phone in someone's pocket as a device for consuming things. For people who have lost nearly everything else, it turns out to be an archive.