Participating Artists Press Agency
“Migrationpapa”
Monday 16th of March 2026 – page 5
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
Dhaka -
The concept of privacy is very different in a home where the whole family lives in one room.…
Shahidul Alam –
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
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 -
Ali Toptas tells me why there are no children in the play ground I saw the day before yesterday. There is a brand new play ground, also not far from…
Nies Medema –
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
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
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
Dhaka -
Most male migrants who come into from villages have skills like farming and fishing, which are not useful in the city. They initially work as rickshaw drivers or labourers. Rickshaw…
Shahidul Alam –
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
Rotterdam -
Tensions are not necessarily bad. In fact they are good not bad I think. How to balance between the positive and the negative apsects of the rapid change in amounts…
Lino Hellings –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
Magnificent mural was painted on the side of a Mexican food store Hacienda on West Vernor Highway in a neighborhood called Mexicantown in Southwest Detroit. Detroit is home to a…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
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
Lagos -
A young migrant from Kano, nothern Nigeria relaxing at Obalende after a long and hard day pushing people goods with wheel barrow for money. Barely able to speak the Nigeria…
Andrew Esiebo –
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
Detroit -
A house in Mexican town, Southwest Detroit caught fire. Fires are daily occurrences in the city because of poverty, old electric wiring, insurance motivated arsons or lack of caution…
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
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
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
Lagos -
A board with winning numbers for daily lotteries, known as Baba Ijebu, at Obalende. Although there are rarely many winners, this form of gambling is rampant in Obalende, especially among…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
Aliyu Lawal arrived Lagos from Katsina two years ago. He got movitated to come to Lagos having seen many of his family members doing business in Lagos. When he attempted…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
A manifesto sign is on display at the entrance to the garden and orchard belonging to the Trumbull Plex, anarchist/artist community that has been established in two houses on Trumbull…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
Shehu Saleh, 30 years arrived a cobbler arrived Lagos from Katsina ten years ago on invitation of his elder brother who is a business man in Lagos. He came to…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Kadar moton ghumai literally translates to ‘sleeping like sand’. It is generally used for small children who drape themselves around their mother, sleeping as if the world didn’t exist. These…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
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