Participating Artists Press Agency
“Migrationpapa”
Wednesday 19th of November 2025 – 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
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 -
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
Dhaka -
The concept of privacy is very different in a home where the whole family lives in one room.…
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
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 -
Young Mr. Bhoendie has been working here for eleven years now. His father and mother bought this little restaurant fifteen years ago. His mother cooks Surinamese, Hindu, Chinese, Carribean and…
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 -
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
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 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 -
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 -
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 -
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
Dhaka -
This is the man around whom I will be building my story. He lives on the upper floor of the wooden huts in Sadek City Model Town.…
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
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
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