A few pages from inside El Dorado!
Copies available from @overlapse via the link in my bio, proceeds directly go towards @chooselove 💛
Some more info about the project:
Photographing in Calais over a period of two years, from November 2014 through December 2016, I documented refugees and migrants arriving there with the ultimate aim of reaching the UK. Several different camps in the area have served as temporary homes for countless people escaping war, torture and persecution in their home countries. The crisis is ongoing, and at this location near the narrowest part of the English Channel (separating mainland Europe from Great Britain), around 300 to 600 migrants at a time are now present in makeshift encampments.
The camps are places of in-between, where lives are suspended and disrupted while people seek protections and await bureaucratic validation in order to continue, in a legal sense. Settlements are under constant threat of being destroyed by French authorities, and violent interactions with police have created an ongoing struggle in Calais.
My aim is to challenges the perception of refugees and migrants with a view of intimate moments created after building trusting relationships – a response to a lack of awareness and intimacy that has fuelled negative stereotypes and racism.
A minimum of £1 from each copy of El Dorado sold will be donated to @chooselove. They support refugees across Europe and the Middle East by ensuring that vital humanitarian aid reaches them when they need it most. Mobilising quickly, they find local organisations doing the most effective work and give them what they need to help people fleeing war, persecution and poverty - whether it’s funding, material aid or volunteers.
“Around one thousand people are living in Grande-Synthe without shelter. Mostly these are families, some with newly born babies. With nowhere else to go, they sleep in parks and on the streets.
Likewise, in Calais, around 500 people are sleeping in forests, under bridges and behind industrial buildings, often with little more than a sleeping bag for protection. French authorities are regularly destroying their tents and belongings in random acts of aggression” @chooselove
Location: Calais Jungle
So pleased to share El Dorado a project I’ve been working on for last few years documenting the refugee and migrant crisis in Calais has been published into a zine by @overlapse
Come join us @whitechapelgallery London Art Book Fair, September 5-8th to have a look!
Proceeds will go towards @chooselove an amazing charity still actively helping and supporting refugees and migrants people in Calais, across Europe and the Middle East.
Additional info and copies available via the link in my bio, all support is much appreciated and will make positive impacts 💙
Location: Calais Jungle