Participating Artists Press Agency
“Migrationpapa”
Friday 17th of July 2026 – page 4
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
Lagos -
This young man runs a phone battery recharging service. There is the saying ‘every disappointment can be a blessing’. This certainly applies to the battery recharging services dotted across the…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
Woman from eastern in front of her store where she sells stockfish a.k.aOporoko at the Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transtional trading. This has made…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
The concept of privacy is very different in a home where the whole family lives in one room.…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
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
Dhaka -
A woman haggles over the price of lipstick and other cosmetics. She is prepared to pay 15 Taka (around 15 euro cents) for the lot, but the seller wants 25…
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
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
Dhaka -
Photo studios are generally adorned with pin up of popular movie stars. Often clients request to be photographed as their favourite star. The studio generally has a full complement of…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
You need very little to set up a shop. Here a balance and a wicker baskets and some plastic bags, make up the entire furniture. Even what is sold (legs…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
TThe shop used to be in nearby Dhanmondi, a more upmarket location. They didn’t need to pay rent for the roadside stall, but had to bribe the police 100 Taka…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Much of the land on either side of the Beri Bandh embankment used to be a swamp, and most homes are built on stilts. The refuse from nearby tanneries and…
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 -
As children we used to talk about Italian Saloons (‘It’ is a brick in Bangla, so these were saloons where you sat on roadside bricks). We also had Mongolian Saloons…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
In many shop windows in Dordtselaan, like this Islamic Surinam butcher, a poster on violence and safety is displayed. It suggests that we all should act when witnessing violence.According…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
The owners of the rickshaw garage are often themselves former rickshaw pullers. These owners are migrants too. Rickshaws often get stolen. They are also taken away by local protection rackets…
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
Dhaka -
Yet another barber shop. I was intrigued by the fact that this doubled as the place where the barber reared his homing pigeons. There were several houses and the pigeons…
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
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
Rotterdam -
In the harbour (Maashaven) someone felt the need to make art on this metal door.…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Looking into the sun from the rickshaw garage. Rickshaws get regularly ‘stolen’ and the garage is notified. Once they pay the protection money, they are told where they can pick…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
To my surprise, the Chinese poet Bei Dao (now living in Danmark, is quoted on a garbage truck. It says: ‘ The source dries out, the fire rages, the road…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
A rickshaw walla with his baby girl. While it is difficult to make ends meet with what one earns pulling a rickshaw. Once children are born, it becomes more difficult…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Rickshaw owners keep their own rickshaws in the garage for safety. They also let out the place for others who do not have enough rickshaws/rickshaw vans, to justify a garage…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa