Participating Artists Press Agency
“Migrationpapa”
Tuesday 13th of January 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
Detroit -
Alex Martinez shows off one of his roosters in the living room of his Southwest Detroit house. Martinez grew up on a farm in Mexico and tries to hold on…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
Adris Nia, 60, grew up in Detroit. His parents moved here from the south of the US to take government positions in the first half of the 20th century. They…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
In the harbour (Maashaven) someone felt the need to make art on this metal door.…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
A pendant of one of the gamblers who told to me that daily betting has brought some improvement to his financial situation. He even boasted he bought his pendant from…
Andrew Esiebo –
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
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
Lagos -
Young boys sitting on of the many commercial motor bikes also known as Okada became visible on the road in Lagos as community transportation has now come to be one…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
A man moving bag of rice as kegs of palm oil waits buyers across the country and beyond at at the Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transtional…
Andrew Esiebo –
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
Lagos -
A mobile medicine stand from eastern Nigeria at Onikan area of Lagos. Walking along this path with my tooth ache , he invited me to take alot at his stuff with…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
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
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 -
A young migrant from northern Nigeria hanging around in heavy traffic in Lagos to clean dirty windows for cash. In less than one hour he earns as much a 50…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
A barbers at the Iddo Terminus. Barbing is a job common among newcomers to the city. With little investment and less skill the business goes on.…
Andrew Esiebo –
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 -
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
Rotterdam -
Two towers on a 200 square meter play ground. It’s 4 pm, there is not one child playing. In Dutch cities, there are many of these so called Playground Associations…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
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
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
Rotterdam -
Minja Schotel is an artist and researcher. In Tarwewijk she does research on micro-entrepreneurship. She has found 21 men and women so far who have or would like to have…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
Two balconies in pensioners home ‘ Harmonie’ (Harmony). One with a Dutch flag, the other with a satellite dish, allowing her to watch TV shows from all over the world…
Nies Medema –
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
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
Lagos -
A lady taking care of her bowl of local liqour a.k.a Ogogoro at the Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transtional trading. The bowl are words…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa