Participating Artists Press Agency
Sunday 13th of July 2025 – page 1
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
Saturday 6th of November 2010
Rotterdam -
The Tarwewijk from the Art Hotel where I checked in for two days. In old days the men of the Tarwewijk worked in the harbour, which you see here on…
Lino Hellings –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
Traditional Dutch churches and believers are becoming extinct species. This is a spire of a former reformed church in Tarwewijk. It is now the home of a church called Victory…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
A narrow wooden stairway takes people to the upper floor of the two storied accommodation in Sadek City Model Town. The rooms do not have windows so the upper rooms…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
While focusing on migration, entrepreneurship, violence, volunteer work, churches and welfare, I almost forgot to share the great views one has in this neighborhood. Rotterdam is a port, and as…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
The two girls decided they would be art directors for the day and took me around. At one point we went to the local photo lab to get prints made…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
Sanne Luijben graduated from art school in 2009. From the south she moved to Tarwewijk. Sanne likes Tarwewijk because of its international atmosphere. Houses are cheap too. She recently had…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
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
Detroit -
A pit-bull mix dog barks at a stranger in a Delray neighborhood in Detroit. Pit bulls are common in the city; they are feared for their jaw strength and admired…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
For what reasons do people leave the house/the city/the country they live in? And why do they choose The Tarwewijk as a quarter to live in? One of the explanations…
Lino Hellings –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
Empty houses have been turned into art installations. Heidelberg Project is the most well known example of urban art in Detroit inspired by socio-economic issues prevalent in the city. A…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Most people have a ‘tabiz’. They are usually small pieces of paper with writings from the Qur’an, packed in little tubes or small caskets. They are often tied around the…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
After the houses on this corner were demolished, these colorful faces appeared, painted on a mobile home in a garden. How did they ever get that caravan in this garden…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
The Tarwewijk Rotterdam. Harbourfront with scrap metal. Depot for trader in king size chains and anchors. Lino Hellings 1th of November 2010
The Tarwewijk translated is the…
Lino Hellings –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
Well, the two photos I will send today deal with water. I will like to put the photos under the titled borrow from a sociologist Annalisa Butticci called Creativity and…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
The precision required in placing the fragile clay pots is difficult to gauge. Once each circle of pots is in position, the men tap the pots to hear for any…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
A dead tree is covered with teddy bears and topped with shopping carts (used by the homeless in the city). The Heidelberg Project was created in 1986 by artist Tyree…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
In the harbour (Maashaven) someone felt the need to make art on this metal door.…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
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
Dhaka -
Many of the inhabitants of Sadek City Model Town live in narrowly packed lines of rooms made of bamboo. They can get water from nearby tubewells and have electricity for…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
An abandoned building on Chene St. in Detroit has been turned into an urban canvas by an artist. The painting presents cartoon characters engaged in violence and drugs. It was…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Sao Paulo -
Bolivians or not? It is dificult to know. They don’t want to talk about theyr activities and where they are going to, where they live or work. In this photo…
Ines Correa –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
A man has set up a yard sale in front of his house in Detroit’s Near East Side. He’s trying to sell the contents of a neighbouring house. Three chairs…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
Mr Lawal from Katsina on his commercial motor bikes also known as Okada awaiting passenger in Onike, another migrant community in Lagos. He left his family after hearing many stories…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa