“Migrationpapa”

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

Arthur the daily paper man

Rotterdam -  Athur cannot walk but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t make himself usefull. Every morning he gets up at 5 . Collects the free newspapers in the metro station. The minibusses with…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

tradition 1

Rotterdam -  Traditional Dutch churches and believers are becoming extinct species. This is a spire of a former reformed church in Tarwewijk. It is now the home of a church called Victory…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Rickshaw Garage Owners

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

Young entrepreneur

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

Cow on road

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

Sleeping like sand

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

Harbour

Rotterdam -  Some grain ware houses have been renovated and are used as discotheques or apartment buildings now, this one in Maashaven is still functioning.…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Emerging from the earth

Dhaka -  The precision required in placing the fragile clay pots is difficult to gauge. Once each circle of pots is in position, the men tap the pots to hear for any…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

The bosses

Rotterdam -  Six o'clock in the morning the pub next to the Metro station is serving coffee for the ‘bosses’ I think. In the cold night minivans and cars arrive to pick…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Resistance 2

Sao Paulo -  Building dominated by the MST, a homeless movement. The companies want to “revitalize", in other words, buy the old buildings to make modern buildings.…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

Very cheap

Sao Paulo -  These Chinese came to Brazil a short time ago. They don’t speak English or Portuguese. They sell hats made in China. R$ 10,00 each. This is very cheap.…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

Rickshaw puller and his wife

Dhaka -  The concept of privacy is very different in a home where the whole family lives in one room.…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

money transfer shop

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

City art 2

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

Young entrepreneurs 2

Rotterdam -  Sanne Luijben graduated from art school in 2009. From the south she moved to Tarwewijk. Sanne likes Tarwewijk because of its international atmosphere. Houses are cheap too. She recently had…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

Kapsalon Adem

Rotterdam -  This kapsalon, the Dutch word for barbershop in the Dordtselaan is called Adem, which means breath in Dutch. In Arabic it is the mens name. The barbershop is filled with…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

protest

Sao Paulo -  Detail from the front door of the block of flats where the MST – Movimento dos Sem Teto/ Homeless Movement Downtown São Paulo is hosted. Homeless people struggling to obtain…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

okra from Kenia and Surinam

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

Rayerbazaar: Goddess Kali

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

Sewage

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

Barbershop

Rotterdam -  In the Tarwewijk I do see many barbershops too. So many cultures, so many different kinds of hair and hairstyles do explain the amount of shops. But like in Lagos…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Whatever

Sao Paulo -  If you come from China or Japan, whatever. “Liberdade” is a Migration-Brazilian neighborhood.…
Ines Correa – Migrationpapa

Patterns 2 Tarwewijk

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

Rickshaw Walla

Dhaka -  Most male migrants who come into from villages have skills like farming…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa