Participating Artists Press Agency
“Migrationpapa”
Monday 16th of February 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 -
This little girl insisted on being photographed and took on poses commonly associated with pin up girls. “She’s always poses in front of mobile cameras†says her dad.…
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
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
Rotterdam -
View on Tarwewijk, the old grain warehouse. Tarwewijk in Rotterdam was built for dockers, sailors, workers and their families. Some of them still come to the harbour every day. ‘In…
Nies Medema –
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 -
At the hairdresser in Dordtselaan a poster is displayed. It says: ‘ I will act when I witness a violent situation in the street.'The poster was published by the…
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
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 -
Young skippers are trained in Maashaven. Lars de la Rie (one more week of school to go before he will be inland skipper) told me he was born only 5…
Nies Medema –
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
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
Rotterdam -
Due to floods in Pakistan, the okra in the grocery store of the Sheikh family is now imported from Kenia and Surinam.…
Nies Medema –
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 -
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 -
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
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
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
Rotterdam -
‘It makes me happy to help others,’ Ali Toptas says, ‘I remember when my mother and brothers and sisters and me moved here, coming from Turkey, joining may father…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Rotterdam -
Many people in Tarwewijk who used to work in the harbour and factories are jobless today. The new job market is in hairdo (African, Asian, Western), international telephone booths, small…
Nies Medema –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
A sticker with a Detroit Lives! logo lies on the sidewalk in Woodbridge, historic neighborhood in midtown Detroit. There’s a lot of meaning contained in this image. First, the location…
Marcin Szczepanski –
Migrationpapa
Detroit -
It’s 10 a.m. and Michigan Ave. is almost empty. Michigan Ave. is one of the main streets in Detroit. It was built to accommodate several lanes of traffic going…
Marcin Szczepanski –
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 -
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
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