“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

Roads2

Detroit -  Two men who migrated to the city from Kentucky in 1950s work on an old truck that belongs to the one on the right. They stayed behind when most of…
Marcin Szczepanski – Migrationpapa

The Harbour

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

Once a stable street

Detroit -  A Latino man talks on the phone while looking at the house of his sister in Mexicantown that is engulfed in flames. Fires are daily occurrences in the city due…
Marcin Szczepanski – Migrationpapa

Gasfire

Dhaka -  Gas fire: Throughout Bangladesh is the ubiquitous tea stall selling sweet thick tea. This is where politics, love and the ways of the world are discussed. The fire under a…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Resistance

Sao Paulo -  There is a fight in central São Paulo for the right to remain living there. The big companies want to ‘revitalise’, in other words, buy the buildings for ridiculously low…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

Catadores

Sao Paulo -  This image was made in the center of Sao Paulo City. In the same region where the Terminal Bus Station was and where the korean people worked. We can see…
Ines Correa – 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

Young people 1

Rotterdam -  It’s 1 pm. Three young people hanging around the afro-cosmetics-wig-international phonecall-shop. The boy with the leather jacket is complaining about something. It’s not clear what bothers him. Life in general…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

family business 1

Rotterdam -  Father Sheikh (born in Pakistan) started his mini-supermarket 8 years ago. Daughter Maawish (born in Rotterdam) wanted to be a model when she was younger, but is happy to work…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Words and public space 2

Rotterdam -  This may be the weirdest sign I have ever seen in our Rotterdam ‘Attempts to regulate with written words-collection’ so far. It is put on a window of an empty…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Readings

Sao Paulo -  A neighborhood where there are brazilian magazines like “Caras", that means “Face" and Korean newspapers “working” together.…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

scrap metal 1

Rotterdam -  The Tarwewijk Rotterdam. A man transports scrap metal with his ship from one harbor to another. His hands are poison and acid resistant, he says. …
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Michigan Ave.

Detroit -  Burn down facades of front stores line up parts of Michigan Ave. in Detroit, they share the street with strip clubs, Mexican grocery joints and used furniture stores. Michigan Ave…
Marcin Szczepanski – Migrationpapa

family business 2

Rotterdam -  Zafer Adsalmis (age 24) started the Osmanli diner at Katendrechtse Lagekade in May 2010. He studied Banking and Insurance, worked a a bank for three years and found it boring…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Recyclable life

Sao Paulo -  Apart from migration from other countries that happen here for years, the city of Sao Paulo has migratory people from the north and northeast of the country seeking work. Many…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

Urban Farming 1

Detroit -  Son 5, and his mom, 24 visit chickens at a community garden off Martin Luther King and Trumbull in Detroit. One third of the Detroit land sits empty and possibilities…
Marcin Szczepanski – Migrationpapa

money transfer shop

Rotterdam -  This is one of many money transfer shops in Tarwewijk. Since many Tarwewijkers want to send money home to their family, this is the perfect neighborhood to start a business…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Pit-bull rage

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

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

Catch up with the news.

Dhaka -  Dhaka Bangladesh ”Beri Band” the embankment around Dhaka city, where a lot of migrants from the villages end up staying. Once preparing meat is over, time to catch up with…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Street Art part2

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. It was created on…
Marcin Szczepanski – Migrationpapa

Empty houses turned into art

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

Every disappointment can be a blessing

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

The Tarwewijk.

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