“Migrationpapa”

On a Monday morning in November 2010, six photographers in five cities around the world take their cameras to urban neighbourhoods where newcomers arrive. The photos flow into the PAPA website like a wave moving around the world. First from Bangladesh, five hours later from Rotterdam and Lagos – cities in the same time zone. Detroit and São Paulo complete the group another seven hours later. From the first week the photos and captions were projected on the windows of the cultural centre at the entrance to the neighbourhood in Rotterdam. The same will happen in other cities. In this way the inhabitants of the various newcomers neighbourhoods not only get a fresh perspective on their own lives but they also get to see how newcomers in other cities live. Migrationpapa is a PAPA project for Kosmopolis Rotterdam with the generous support of Hivos

Secretary of the Union

Lagos -  Andrew Peji, arrived Lagos twenty years ago from Republic of Benin as a cook for the Military in Nigeria. Currently secretary of the Union of the commercial Tricycle motor bike…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Rice loaders

Lagos -  Men who are mostly from northern Nigeria are off loading bags of rice into the wharehouse in Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transtional trading. This has made…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Rooftop

Dhaka -  With the upper floors of the bazaar demolished, light and rain come through the new openings. Plastic sheets of different colours make up the impromptu rooftop. Nice colours and space…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Changing

Sao Paulo -  This image was made in the center of Sao Paulo City. In this region was the only Terminal Bus Station of the town until 1982, when it was turned off…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

A tailoring apprentice

Lagos -  A taloring apprentice who recently migrated from the nothern Nigeria to Lagos sewing cloth at the Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transtional trading. This has made it…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Matrasses for rent

Rotterdam -  Recently al lot of Polish people started populating the Tarwewijk. In the evening the quarter fills up with cars carrying Polish numberplates. They do not work in Rotterdam but travel…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Polski Sklep

Rotterdam -  The Polish supermarket is a huge success. The Yugoslavian Zeko moved to Rotterdam nineteen years ago . Since four years he lives in the Tarwewijk. He started of as a greengrocer…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

The Bed

Dhaka -  The bed in this family home almost fills up the entire space of the 8 foot by 8 foot room. Things are stuck up on the walls to save space…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Cow on road

Dhaka -  A cow decides to take a leisurely walk along the road. Other traffic simply lets it be, and life goes on as normal.…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Creativity and Survival

Lagos -  One of the Hausa new comers at Obalende – Lagos filling jerrycans with water from a private owned borehole to supply around Lagos. Though, Lagos is surrounded by oceans, seas…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Faith as strategy for survival

Lagos -  Multitude of people during the prayers session of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle church (MFM) , in their annual spiritual deliverance and miracle service. In Nigeria, means for daily living…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Tones of goods

Lagos -  Cart pusher moving tones of goods from the Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transitional trading. This has made it a hub for many new comers in Lagos…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Mobile Telephone booth

Lagos -  With a big umbrella, the cheapest phone of less than 10 dollars many new comers make their daily living through the Mobile Telephone booth popularly known as Payphone that dots…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Friendship

Dhaka -  “Beri Band” the embankment around Dhaka city, where a lot of migrants from the villages end up staying. The photograph of the two men might have sexual overtones in other…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Papers please

Rotterdam -  After having watched the (probably) illegal workers going off in the dark and after having said goodbeye to Arthur, I start to explore the quarter by car. Within short a…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Lunchtime

Sao Paulo -  When I arrived in the neighborhood of “Bom Retiro” it was lunchtime. A good time to be there because I was not allowed to enter inside the stores, people didn’t…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

New Opportunities

Sao Paulo -  I first took the picture. Then I tried to talk with them. Once more, they didn’t want to talk. When they saw me with the camera they quicly went inside…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

Old newcomers

Rotterdam -  We do have a big problem in integrating newcomers in our society. It is hopefull that people from Surinam, a former Dutch colony seem to have found their way up…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

A shop in a shop

Rotterdam -  Inside the Surinamese shop there is another shop a videotheque, your special supplier of Bollywood CDs and DVDs. On the yellow sign on the ceiling it says ‘Do not bring…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Rickshaw Wallah

Dhaka -  This is the man around whom I will be building my story. He lives on the upper floor of the wooden huts in Sadek City Model Town.…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Rayerbazaar: Goddess Kali

Dhaka -  Kali is considered the goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Rickshaw Art

Dhaka -  Rickshaw wallas are very proud of their rickshaws and most rickshaws are brightly decorated. But with times getting more difficult, there are fewer adornments, and hand painted decorations are being…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Axe

Detroit -  A door is marked by a cut left by an axe when a burglar forced his entry into a house. Most of the residents who could afford to have left…
Marcin Szczepanski – Migrationpapa