They drown or freeze to death — the river is ice-cold in the winter — and their bodies decompose quickly in the fresh water. Or they make it to land only to be killed by trains that run along the riverbanks, or land mines left over from the 1974 conflict over Cyprus between Greece and Turkey. Their clothes are shredded and their belongings are lost to the river. Whatever proof they once walked the earth can fit in your hand, with room to spare: a bracelet, a cigarette lighter, a chewing gum wrapper.

In “ Traces of Identity ,” Mr. Rorandelli, who specializes in global social and environmental issues, documented approximately 150 items people who perished in the Evros left behind. The project recognizes those who paid the ultimate price for a shot at a better life and reminds an indifferent world of the profound risks fellow human beings take every day to escape crushing violence, oppression and poverty.

As he photographed objects stored in plastic sandwich bags at a hospital morgue , Mr. Rorandelli was struck by the significance of what the migrants and refugees had left behind. “Unraveling those material memories of dead ones was a ceremonious moment,” he recalled. “There are a few objects that I felt were particularly ‘alive’ in their immobility. A rubber bracelet with the text “I BELIEVE” was one of them. It was the only object found on the body of the victim. Nothing else but this pledge to life. Or a white lighter coated with rust, giving it a sort of vitality. Or dental prostheses, which made me think of the dedication of those who try to give a name to these people.”