Participating Artists Press Agency
“Migrationpapa”
Saturday 15th of November 2025 – page 4
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
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
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
Dhaka -
TThe shop used to be in nearby Dhanmondi, a more upmarket location. They didn’t need to pay rent for the roadside stall, but had to bribe the police 100 Taka…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Looking into the sun from the rickshaw garage. Rickshaws get regularly ‘stolen’ and the garage is notified. Once they pay the protection money, they are told where they can pick…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Most male migrants who come into from villages have skills like farming…
Shahidul Alam –
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
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
Dhaka -
The ‘services’ required by the community include entertainment and medical support. The snake charmer provides both. While people like to watch the dance of the snakes, the charmer, Lokman also…
Shahidul Alam –
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
Dhaka -
You need very little to set up a shop. Here a balance and a wicker baskets and some plastic bags, make up the entire furniture. Even what is sold (legs…
Shahidul Alam –
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
Dhaka -
A woman haggles over the price of lipstick and other cosmetics. She is prepared to pay 15 Taka (around 15 euro cents) for the lot, but the seller wants 25…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Lagos -
Men from western Nigeria reading newpapers at one of the rice stores at the Iddo terminus market. The market is popular for transtional trading. This has made it a hub…
Andrew Esiebo –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Rickshaw wallas are very proud of their rickshaws and most rickshaws are brightly decorated. But with times getting more difficult, there are fewer adornments, and hand painted decorations are being…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
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
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
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 -
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
Dhaka -
Rickshaw owners keep their own rickshaws in the garage for safety. They also let out the place for others who do not have enough rickshaws/rickshaw vans, to justify a garage…
Shahidul Alam –
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
Dhaka -
The bed in this family home almost fills up the entire space of the 8 foot by 8 foot room. Things are stuck up on the walls to save space…
Shahidul Alam –
Migrationpapa
Dhaka -
Children need to become productive at a very early age and take on many adult roles. Every member of the family, beyond a certain age has to work to keep…
Shahidul Alam –
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