A 40-WEEK JOURNEY EXPLORING MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS KADIR VAN LOHUIZEN 路 PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, AUDIO
exhibition proposal
DAY 106 / JUNE 30, 2011 / COLOMBIAN BORDER, ECUADOR - FLEEING FROM VIOLENCE
introduction While covering various issues around the globe for the past 20 years, photojournalist Kadir Van Lohuizen found that migration often played a role. He also found that it has many different forms and causes - be it forced or voluntarily, because of climate change, war and conflict or economic issues, across long distances or short ones. As a photojournalist specialised in longterm projects, Van Lohuizen was inspired to devote a project entirely to the subject of migration. He began his preparations for the project in 2007, working on a pilot in Chile and Bolivia. In 2010 Van Lohuizen teamed up with Paradox. Together they have collaborated to shape the project to its final form. Via PanAm is a visual investigation into the roots of migration. It focuses on the continents of South- and North America; continents shaped by colonialism and migration. Latin America is after years of right wing governments, economic downturn, and social instability reinventing itself. The indigenous Indian populations – historically extinguished or excluded are re-finding their identities. At the same time the continent is losing the interest of the Western world that is turning its gaze increasingly towards the Far East, India and China in particular. The media, struggling with survival in an Internet dominated media environment where free products have increasingly become the rule rather than the exception, are following this trend. Correspondents are fired or (at best) relocated, away from Latin America.
Migration In the current dialogue about migration, it is often forgotten that the phenomenon is as old as mankind and that the Americas are continents shaped by colonialism and migration. People move all over the continent, for many different reasons and in many directions. Whereas most people think of migration as people moving from South to North – and in this case especially moving to the US - most movement actually takes place between neighbouring countries and between different regions within a country. Since the beginning of time, people have moved within or between regions in order to improve their standard of living, or to escape from poverty and conflict. The transportation and telecommunications possibilities of today, bringing the outer world closer by, motivate and enable more people to move. With Via PanAm, Van Lohuizen wants to shed a light on this ‘forgotten’ region, and create a better understanding of the phenomenon of migration. In his own engaged and compelling way, he does this by focusing on the people involved. Their stories show the variety of motivations they have, the roads they travel and the (often informal) infrastructures they enter into.
Publications in NRC Handelsblad (the Netherlands), El Liberal, El Espectador (Colombia), IS Magazine (the Netherlands), Life China and Sunday Times Magazine (UK)
via panam Between March 2011 and March 2012, Kadir van Lohuizen made a road trip from the southernmost tip of Chile to North Alaska. Following the PanAmerican Highway through 15 countries, he went in search of the topics and stories that together give a broad and nuanced picture of migration. He found these stories through extensive research and local encounters. From the Bolivians and Peruvians who travel to the tip of Chile – an area popular with tourists and developers – in search of work. From the Colombian refugees in Ecuador, who still fear the threat of armed forces at home. From the Palestinian community in Honduras that belongs to the business elite, the many Chinese in Panama, and from American pensionados in poor but heavenly Nicaragua, to the labourers employed in the oil industry in inhospitable Alaska. He recorded more than 30 stories on film, video and audio. They give insights into the local and regional current affairs, the issues people struggle with as well as the successes they achieve. The stories and Van Lohuizen’s blogs are shared with the audience through a variety of platforms and media.
Multimedia and multi-platform storytelling While on the road, Van Lohuizen could be followed through weekly radio reports (VPRO radio, NL), bi-weekly newspaper articles (NRC Handelsblad, NL) and magazine publications (IS Magazine, Sunday Times Magazine, LIFE China, GEO, Newsweek, L’Espresso and National Geographic online). Through Facebook and Twitter he keeps in direct touch with his following audience. Van Lohuizen’s blog can be followed on www.viapanam.org and through the iPad application especially developed for the project. The app combines the online blog with in-depth picture stories that Kadir makes along the way, mixing images with video and audio. It also provides detailed contextual information on migration and the countries crossed through detailed maps, statistics and historical information. The unique mix of available platforms in this project is an experiment that is as relevant to the media as to the cultural industry. By combining these different platforms (traditional mass media, website, iApp) the project manages to reach a wide international audience. The website and iPad app are available in three languages (English, Spanish and Dutch) in order to facilitate this. As of 2012, Paradox is working on a fourth important platform: a travelling exhibition capable of bringing the project back to the people and regions that relate to it.
Virtual vs. physical experience The tablet PC, of which the iPad is the most prominent example, embodies the hope of the media industry. It is hoped that the device can re-introduce or repair the paid media model we have known in the past. The iPad offers serious as well as compelling content on a device that everyone can carry
A SIGN, 2600 KM / DAY 028 / APRIL 13, 2011 05:27 / CONCEPCION, CHILE “A year and a half ago Paradox found this sign on Wikipedia when doing research for the project. We decided to adopt it as the logo and use Via PanAm as the bname for the project. Funny to all of a sudden run into it in the N5 between Temuco and Concepcion.”
iPad application
around and that is capable of switching seamlessly between on- and offline content, moving and still images, text based reporting as well as audio or video, glued together in an easy navigable interface. It is believed to be a tool that can change the media’s earning model. In terms of experiencing content, the iPad as a platform comes quite close to that of a media rich exhibition. Still, an exhibition offers great advantages in terms of experience and reaching an audience. Although an app makes it possible to navigate through the content based at one’s own pace and preferences, the screen however remains limited in what it can show; in general not more than one video, image or text at once. An exhibition on the other hand is a much more dynamic and physical experience. Literally walking through the content on display, one can become part of the installation, instead of merely being a spectator. Another advantage of the exhibition is that it allows for cross-references between the stories. Whereas during the trip (on the website, the iPad and in the media) the stories are presented chronologically and linear, the exhibition allows for a different arrangement of the stories, emphasizing specific themes or observations (see Exhibition on the next page). Furthermore the scale of an exhibition makes it possible to reach a much higher impact, and show the optimal quality of images. Depending on the actual location, the content of the exhibition can be related to the other exhibitions in the museum, allowing for new reading and interpretation of the museum’s existing collection. In terms of reach, a physical exhibition is critical for reaching out to an audience in the countries represented in Via PanAm, given that the number of iPad owners, especially in Latin America, is still very limited. Through the exhibition of Via PanAm we can reach a broad audience interested in photography, new media, current affairs, the Americas, migration and/or human rights issues and give a rich and nuanced insight into these topics. Additionally Via PanAm is an opportunity for the museum to connect with specific and potentially new audiences. Migrant communities locally and regionally can be attracted and involved. The stories told by star reporter Kadir van Lohuizen’s documentary approach and his representation of contemporary issues allows for identification of local migrants’ communities. A more active participation can be achieved by inviting people to share their own migration related stories and imagery and combine this in the exhibition, thus adding an extra layer to Kadir van Lohuizen’s work and approach. This would require a commitment from the museum and/or local institutions in arranging this.
Exhibition sketch Via PanAm
exhibition Although a linear storytelling approach linked to the journey would work well here (the exhibition as a spatial version of the app), the exhibition approaches the content differently. Looking at the subject matter and stories that Van Lohuizen has recorded, a number of themes stand out as the most important causes/ reasons for migration. These are: - Urbanisation - Economic incentives and commodities - Safety - Reunification with family members - Indigenous identity Structuring the stories on the basis of these themes provides new insights into the phenomenon. What connects these 30 stories? What do they say about current migration flows in the Americas? What are the most important reasons for people to migrate, and which push and pull factors play a role in their decision? The Via PanAm exhibition is an installation consisting of multiple projection screens and large prints. The stories will be shown as audio-visual presentations on the screens. The large-format prints, meanwhile, depict the best images from the project and can be considered at length. The screens, of approximately 3 x 4 metres, will be placed around the space in such a way that the visitor can see several screens at once from several angles. Combined, the six screens keep telling the story, whereby images are interspersed with road movies and panorama shots of the surroundings. These emphasise the sensation of travelling and give the visitor a moment to daydream between the stories. The spatial experience, which is played out around the visitor, will be emphasised and held together by a soundtrack of ambient noise, interspersed with a narrative voice and singing and/or music. The Via PanAm app will be available in the exhibition on various iPads connected to larger (LCD) screens. The iPad adds another, more personal dimension to the kaleidoscopic and large-scale experience of the multiple-screen installation. As a viewer, you can let the impressions from the surrounding screens and prints wash over you; but you can also focus on the app and the intimate experience it offers at your own pace and in a quieter environment.
Exhibition specs The exhibition includes the following components: 1. The photo stories, arranged by sub-theme and projected on six screens of approximately 3 x 4 m. The stories comprise photography, video, audio, text and the geographic location of each is specified. 2. Impressions of the surroundings, in the form of panorama shots and road movies, also projected on the screens. 3. A selection of 30-40 images of approximately 80 x 120 cm, printed and mounted on Dibond panels. As the images can be mounted on both sides of the panels, they can also be free hanging in the space. 4. Background information on the countries and migration flows (and the blog) is available in the form of the iPad app.
THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF - DANA LIXENBERG Location: LP II, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2008 Exhibition design: Jeroen de Vries
PLAY - CAREL VAN HEES Location: Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Germany, 2007 Exhibition design: Jeroen de Vries
The exhibition is produced by Paradox and designed by Jeroen de Vries. They share an interest in social and historical topics, and a love for the integration of new- and multi-media as presentation forms. Since 1993, they have developed large-scale exhibitions together. These exhibitions such as The Last Days of Shishmaref (on global warming with filmmaker Jan Louter and photographer Dana Lixenberg) and Go No Go (on migration in Schengen-Europe with photographer Ad van Denderen and filmmakers Boris Gerrets and Marjoleine Boonstra) were shown internationally at art museums, cultural organisations, antropological and historical institutions as well as in public spaces. Paradox exhibitions have received international acclaim for their innovative approach. Kadir van Lohuizen’s work has been exhibited internationally. Two important and very successful shows were made from his long-term projects Diamond Matters and Katrina Aftermath, not in the least part because of the way in which they managed to reach a wide audience and bring back the work to the places where it was produced. Diamond Matters was reproduced on vinyl and exhibited in the mines of DR Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone, where the workers were able to see the journey that the diamonds that they dig travel, up to the rich and famous in Europe and the United States who wear them. Those Who Fell Through the Cracks was exhibited in August 2010, which marked the fifth commemoration year of Hurricane Katrina. Kadir van Lohuizen and Stanley Greene presented images of Katrina’s devastation and the aftermath in a truck-exhibition that drove from Houston to New Orleans, with a series of events accompanying the show. Photographs covered the interior and exterior of the 24-foot truck. In 2003 Kadir collaborated with Jeroen de Vries for the show of his project Rivers, on the seven rivers of the world. It was exhibited in the Institut Néerlandais in Paris, France.
Audience engagement Via PanAm is relevant for a broad audience interested in (documentary) photography, (photo)journalism, migration, human rights issues, culture, politics and economics of the Americas, travel and new- and multi media. Via PanAm gives meaning and context to the phenomenon of migration and contributes to the migration discourse. Themes such as assimilation versus preserving cultural identity, representation and normalization of migration and the role migrants play in society can be addressed. It is as such a good opportunity for schools to make their pupils and students acquinted with the phenomenon in all its aspects and variety. The exhibition offers an opportunity for the museum to engage local (migrant) communities. A program can be developed that is aimed at gathering the personal migration related stories of these communities and (possibly) incorporating it in the exhibition. Such a program can add an interesting extra layer – both visually and content-wise – to the exhibition. It requires the active participation of the museum and/or local organizations in organizing this.
Via PanAm book dummy
Exhibition schedule The exhibition will travel to several venues in Europe and Latin and North America. Venues in Chile, Luxembourg and The Netherlands have been confirmed. Other museums interested in showing the exhibition are listed below.
Chile: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago (22/02 - 03/03 2013) Luxembourg: Centre Nacional de l’Audiovisuel, Dudelange (28/03 - 27-07 2013) The Netherlands: Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam (09/11 2013 - 12/01 2014) Perú: FOLi, Museo de Fotografía, Lima Ecuador: Centro Cultural Metropolitano, Quito Colombia: Museo Nacional, Bogotá Nicaragua: Alliance Francaise, Managua
More venues will hopefully be added to the list. The Via PanAm exhibition is thus also an opportunity for participating museums to establish or enhance their relationship with renowned museums in South- and North America.
Book From Via PanAm also a book is being developed. The book takes the reader along through the changing landscapes of the 15 countries travelled – printed in colour and black and white on large spreads. Within these landscapes, the stories of the people pop up, on smaller pages, like intimate little booklets. The stories zoom in on the lives of the people that Van Lohuizen portrayed. To Van Lohuizen’s portrayal of the continents, which he views as a skilled outsider, the perspective of a Latin American author on the current situation and developments surrounding migration in the Americas will be added. For this essay, we are considering the Colombian writer and essayist Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of novels including The Informers and The Secret History of Costaguana, The book is co-published by YdocPublishing and will be available from mid 3013. A preview can be seen on www.ydocfoundation.org. Launch: Spring/Summer 2013 Pages: ca. 400 Format: ca. 49 x 33 cm Design: Heijdens Karwei, Amsterdam Production: Paradox
For more information about Via PanAm, please contact Laura Verduijn at Paradox: lve@paradox.nl +31 (0)299 315083 www.paradox.nl www.viapanam.org
DIAMOND MATTERS - KADIR VAN LOHUIZEN Location: FotoMuseum, Antwerp, Belgium, 2007 / Foam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2005 / DR Congo, 2005
THOSE WHO FELL THROUGH THE CRACKS - KADIR VAN LOHUIZEN AND STANLEY GREENE
partners Kadir van Lohuizen Kadir van Lohuizen (b 1963) is a freelance photojournalist based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He started to work as a professional freelance photojournalist in 1988 covering the first Intifada. In the years to follow he worked in many conflict areas in Africa, such as Angola, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Liberia and DR Congo. From 1990 –1994 he covered the transition in South Africa from apartheid to democracy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union he covered social issues in different corners of the former empire. He also went to North Korea and Mongolia. Van Lohuizen is known for his long-term independent projects, where he often covers the uncovered. In his aftermath projects about hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti, he follows the victims and the longterm effects until many years after the event, when the focus of attention from the international news media has moved elsewhere. In Aderen he followed the seven rivers of the world, from source to mouth, covering the daily life along these lifelines. In 2004 he went back to Angola, Sierra Leone and DR Congo to portray the diamond industry, following the diamonds from the mines to the consumer markets in the western world. The exhibition travelled not only in Europe and the USA, but also in the mining areas of Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone. In September 2007, along with ten others, van Lohuizen created the agency NOOR Images (www.noorimages.com). The NOOR photographers are known for their thorough longterm in-depth reporting. They represent the highest standards in documentary photography. During his career Van Lohuizen won a number prestigious awards such as ‘de Zilveren Camera’ (1988, Netherlands), the ‘Kees Scherer’ prize for the best photo book in Holland (2007), and a PDN annual award in the USA as well as the Visa d’Or News (France) for his work in Chad. In 2009 he was appointed as a member of the supervisory board of World Press Photo. Since 1990 Van Lohuizen has published in numerous magazines and newspapers such as Vrij Nederland, de Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad, Le Monde, Liberation, The Guardian, The Observer, Independent Sunday Review, New York Times magazine, Time magazine, Paris Match, Newsweek and GEO and has worked regularly for Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). Kadir van Lohuizen has published four books: Waar twee olifanten vechten, civil war in Mozambique (1992), www.tibet.chin.com on the chinafication of Tibet (1999), Rivers, on the seven rivers in the world, also published in France and Germany (2003) and Diamond Matters (2005), published by Mets & Schilt publishers and Dewi Lewis. In 2007 Umbrage editions released the American edition of Diamond Matters. He has had numerous shows internationally and made two films: Het Wilde Noorden (25 “, Ikon television, NL, 2001) on Siberia together with Frank Vellinga and Het Zwarte Goud (25”, VPRO television, 2005).
INDELEBILE IMAGES - KOEN WESSING Location: Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (GAM), Santiago, Chile, 2011 Exhibition design: Jeroen de Vries
Paradox
Curators/producers Paradox creates projects in photography and media-related arts, and further has developed into a producer of projects in photography and media-related arts. The recording of history as it is unfolding, and the interaction between social, economic and technical factors, with the changes in society which flow from them, are recurring aspects in both its thematic and monographic projects. Traditional and interactive publications (books, short films and websites) are produced and distributed, and workshops and symposia are organized in relation to the projects Paradox initiates. Paradox does not have its own exhibition space; its projects are realized at various locations. Paradox experiments expressly with multimedia presentation forms and the interaction between various disciplines (photography, film, audio) and platforms (exhibition spaces, websites, books). The condition for the coalescence of these elements is that they will lift the whole project to a higher plane, but at the same time can function on their own. The emphasis here lies on innovative forms of presentation, and is directed toward reaching as wide – and especially as much of a young – audience as possible. Paradox always seeks partners in realizing its productions, in particular among publishers and designers. In the past, Paradox has worked with Steidl, Mets and Schilt, Veenman Publishers and Artimo on various books. The exhibition designer and curator Jeroen de Vries and the multimedia designer Yvo Zijlstra (Antenna-Men) have several times been closely involved with the development of projects. Book design has been the responsibility of Henrik Barends, Mevis & Van Deursen, Yvo Zijlstra, Roelof Mulder, Kummer & Herrman and others. Paradox productions have appeared at or toured to a large number of institutions in The Netherlands and elsewhere. For instance, there have been collaborations with the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Rotterdam), FOAM (Amsterdam), the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), The Photographers’ Gallery (London), the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing), the Centro Gabriela Mistral (Santiago de Chile) and with photo festivals including the Rencontres de la Photographie (Arles) and Le Mois de la Photo (Montreal). Among the projects involved have been >Play (on youth culture with photographer and filmmaker Carel van Hees, 2001), Go No Go (on migration with photographer Ad van Denderen and filmmaker Marjoleine Boonstra, 2003), Why Mister Why? (on the war in Iraq with photographer Geert van Kesteren, 2005), The Last Days of Shishmaref (with filmmaker Jan Louter and photographer Dana Lixenberg on global warming, 2008) We Are The World (on globalization, 2009) ANGRY / Young and Radical (on radicalisation, 2011) and Poppy - Trails of Afghan Heroin (with Robert Knoth and Anroinette de Jong, 2012).
WHY MISTER WHY? - GEERT VAN KESTEREN Location: Oskar Schindler Factory, Krakóv, Poland, 2007 Exhibition design: Jeroen de Vries, Bas Vroege (Paradox)
EAST WIND WEST WIND - BERTIEN VAN MANEN Location: Centre Photographique de’lle-de-France, PontaultCombault, France, 2003 Exhibition design: Jeroen de Vries
BODY AND CITY Location - Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing, France, 1998 Exhibition design - Jeroen de Vries
Jeroen de Vries
Curator/designer - Photography Works Jeroen de Vries (1947) lives and works in Amsterdam and Belgrade. He graduated in Industrial Design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and in Visual Communication at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. Since then he has been working as an independent designer and exhibition maker and as a lecturer. De Vries started his career in the end of the 1960s, participating in the LuxLab group that consisted of young architects and artists focused on modern forms of communication. During the 1970s, he used photography in political ventures by creating propaganda posters, to protest against the war in Vietnam, the neutron bomb or to uphold the Polish Solidarity movement. Later, De Vries started arranging photographic exhibitions, often focused on history and social politics. This was the period of his close collaboration with the Amsterdam Historical Museum. In the 1990s, de Vries regularly cooperated with various visual artists and art institutions. He started experimenting with multi-dimensional arrangements of large photographic projections and screens that made his name recognized in the artistic circles worldwide. ‘I became the screen professor’, says De Vries with a touch of irony. He developed projects with the work of i.e. Eva Besnyö, Dolf Kruger, Kors van Bennekom, Michel Pellanders, Johan van der Keuken, Leo Divendal, Wijnanda Deroo, Dirk de Herder, Koen Wessing, Ed van der Elsken, Ad van Denderen, Jan Versnel, Diana Blok, Aart Klein, Mar¬joleine Boonstra, Bertien van Manen, Kadir van Lohuizen, Geert van Kesteren en Susan Meiselas. Various of his projects have been shown in New York, Rotterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Belgrade, Santiago de Chile, Kurdistan, Paris and Luxemburg.
stories covered
DAY 3 / 19 MARCH 2011 - 05:02 1 KM / PUERTO TORO, CHILE PUERTO TORO: THE ULTIMATE SOUTH Puerto Toro on Isla Navarino is the southernmost settlement in the western hemisphere. It is the homeland of the indigenous Yagan, who are by now almost extinct and have lost most of the land they owned.
DAY 7 / 23 MARCH 2011 - 04:28 200 KM / USHUAIA, ARGENTINA USHUAIA: MAGNET IN THE SOUTH It looks like thousands of houses have been stuck against the mountains above Ushuaia. Those are the homes of tens of thousands of immigrants working in this Argentine city, a city booming; anchor place for many cruise ships and a tax free zone. The original population of Ushuaia has mixed feelings about the newcomers. They have made the city less secure according to some, according to others it has enriched the city culturally. In general everyone agrees that the city needs the workforce.
DAY 12 / 28 MARCH 2011 - 07:10 - 450 KM / PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE SHEEP AND GOLD The wind-swept grasslands in Tierra del Fuego are perfect for sheep and cattle ranching, which attracts many migrants from the north. They work as gold diggers or as seasonal laborers in the wool industry. The presence of mainly male laborers led to the existence of brothels. Women come from Colombia and the Dominican Republic, resisting the harsh climate to make some money.
DAY 15 / 31 MARCH 2011 - 11:15 - 1300 KM / PUERTO EDEN, CHILE THE END OF EDEN Puerto Eden, with its 180 residents, is one of the most isolated villages in the southern hemisphere. The nearest city is about 500 kilometers away by sail. Lying in the middle of hundreds of islands and fjords, it is accessible only by boat. The village is the only regular port of call on a 1500 kilometer long, four day ferry voyage between Puerto Natales in the south and Puerto Montt in the north. The ferry carries not only passengers, but also food, gasoline and other goods.
DAY 27 / 12 APRIL 2011 - 11:22 - 2500 KM / TEMUCO, CHILE MAPUCHE: ETERNAL RESISTANCE The Mapuche are the oldest and most important ethnic minority, representing less than 5 percent of the Chilean population. During the 12th century they migrated as nomads and fishermen from Patagonia to the Chilean west coast and settled in the fertile valleys. The Mapuche are legendary because of their fierce resistance, first against Inca, and later against Spanish efforts to take their land. At the end of the 19th century they were forced to hand over their territories to the central government. Since the loss of their traditional lands many Mapuche have been living in poverty. The majority of them have now migrated to the cities in search of better economic opportunities.
DAY 33 / 18 APRIL 2011 - 04:17 - 5000 KM / CALAMA, CHILE THE CALL OF THE DESERT The Atacama Desert in the north of Chile is justly called the driest place on earth. Yet for centuries people from all corners of the earth have been drawn to this empty space. Attracted by the wealth hidden under the sand, such as nitrate and copper, they braved the harsh climate.
DAY 45 / 30 APRIL 2011 - 11:52 - 6000 KM / BOLIVIA THE PROMISE OF LITHIUM Salar de Uyuni, an enormous salt lake in south-west Bolivia, is a potential gold mine. Sitting under its thick layers of salt is the world’s largest reserve of lithium, the lightest metal known to man. The amounts being extracted are still modest, but demand is growing explosively. In the future there could be work here for hundreds of migrants.
DAY 50 / 5 MAY 2011 - 02:09 - 6400 KM / BOLIVIA THE AGE OF TIN For more than a century now there has been an ebb and flow of Bolivian fortune seekers around the Siglo XX tin mines. When the price of tin crashed, the government shut down operations. Now that the price has risen again, mine workers are returning in large numbers from all over Bolivia. They hack away at the ore in the deteriorating mine shafts with picks and hammers.
DAY 57 / 12 MAY 2011 - 05:00 - 6647 KM / CHAPARE, BOLIVIA THE FORBIDDEN LEAF Chapare lies in the heart of Bolivia, where the western highlands shade off into the eastern, low-lying rain forests. The region is famed for the production of coca. Traditionally the leaves were chewed, but they are also the most important ingredient in the production of cocaine. The latter fact means that growing coca is controversial, but also financially attractive. For decades poverty-stricken farmers and their families, generally from the highlands, have been migrating to Chapare to benefit from the high price of coca.
DAY 69 / 24 MAY 2011 - 11:25 - 7200 KM / MADRE DE DIOS, PERU THE NEW GOLD FEVER In Peru tens of thousands of fortune hunters are being attracted to the south-eastern province of Madre de Dios by the presence of gold. The rising price for the ‘metal of the sun’ has stirred up a new gold fever there. Primaeval forests are being decimated, the landscape pockmarked with craters and poisoned with mercury. Villages grow into cities, which in turn attract new migrants: gold dealers, shopkeepers, prostitutes, and yet more gold seekers.
DAY 71 / 26 MAY 2011 - 05:02 - 8000 KM / LIMA, PERU INDIGENOUS URBAN LIFE A little more than a decade ago about a dozen families from the indigenous Shipibo tribe moved to Lima from Peru’s eastern Amazon region. They ended up in the city’s Cantagallo district, in the middle of the capital and close along the Pan-American Highway. In this overcrowded neighborhood, their Shipibo language and customs are under serious threat.
DAY 80 / 4 JUNE 2011 - 09:36 - 8530 KM / CHEPEN, PERU WORKING FOR A FAMILY FAR AWAY Since the late 1990s Chile has been a popular destination for Peruvian guest workers. There are more jobs to be had, and anyone prepared to work hard is able to earn more in a week than they could earn in a month in Peru. Those seeking a better future are willing to pay the equivalent of a month’s wages to get across the border illegally. The Chilean capital of Santiago alone has more than 80,000 Peruvian immigrants living there. The vast majority are women. In order to provide a better future for their family, they leave their own home and children behind to work in the homes and take care of the children of someone else. Almost all the money that they earn thousands of kilometers away is sent back to Peru.
DAY 86 / 10 JUNE 2011 - 12:12 - 9275 KM / EL ORO, ECUADOR BEGINNING A NEW LIFE WITH WET FEET Ecuador had never been a popular destination for its neighbors from the richer Peru. But that changed radically after 2000, when Ecuador introduced the dollar as its official currency. While Ecuadorians themselves were emigrating massively, tens of thousands of Peruvians were drawn to the dollar economy. Many found work in Ecuador’s rice fields. Most receive regular wages for their work. Their dream is to lease a piece of land of their own, where they can permanently build a new life.
DAY 102 / 26 JUNE 2011 - 01:21 - 9860 KM / PIQUIUCHO, ECUADOR WINNING FOR A BLACK MINORITY Ecuador is famous for its indigenous culture, but it actually also has a sizeable Black minority. The most remarkable segment of this population have lived far off the beaten path, hidden in the Chota Valley in the north of the country. The Valley’s residents are descended from African slaves. According to their tradition, they came from a slave ship which was on its way from Panama to Peru in the 16th century. The ship sank off the coast of Ecuador, and dozens of castaways, led by a Jesuit priest, fled into the mountains. They settled there, creating several Black enclaves in the middle of the Quechua Indian population. One of the descendants is Ulises de la Cruz, the international soccer star and top player for Ecuador’s national team. He channels part of the money he earns as a sports star into funding community projects in his native village.
DAY 106 / 30 JUNE 2011 - 05:24 - 10010 KM / COLOMBIAN BORDER, ECUADOR FLEEING FROM VIOLENCE `The only risk is that you’ll want to stay.` That’s the slogan the Colombian government uses to attract foreign tourists. But for an estimated three million Colombians, the situation couldn’t be more different. Violence between guerrilla groups, the army, paramilitaries and drug cartels have forced them into flight. Driven from their villages and farms, they end up in the slums surrounding big cities throughout Colombia. Some of them, like Consuelo Hernández and her family, even flee across the borders.
DAY 122 / 16 JULY 2011 - 11:43 - 11015 KM / GRAMALOTE, COLOMBIA RESIDENTS OF A LOST CITY Until late 2010 Gramalote was a pleasant town in eastern Colombia that had been there for a century and a half. But on 17 December the town was swallowed up by the earth. Landslides caused by heavy rainfall left almost no houses standing. The whole region was ravaged by violent storms and flooding, leaving many thousands homeless. Residents of Gramalote, driven out by this natural disaster, now live in temporary housing in the area or with other family members in nearby villages and towns.
DAY 125 / 19 JULY 2011 - 10:32 - 10500 KM / ALTOS DE FLORIDA/NIEVE, COLOMBIA YOUR LAND OR YOUR LIFE The armed conflict in Colombia has been going on for nearly half a century now. The FARC guerrilla movement and the paramilitaries carry on an unending struggle for the control of territories of economic interest, areas where there are mines and where coca, the basic ingredient for cocaine, is grown. The inhabitants of the countryside, the poor and farmers, are merely in the way. They are driven off their land and become refugees. As this is being written, it is estimated that Colombia has at least four million internal refugees.
DAY 135 / 28 JULY 2011 - 01:54 - 11490 KM / CARTI ISLANDS, PANAMA ON THE RUN FROM THE WATER The Carti-islands off the Panamanian Caribbean coast are inhabited by the indigenous Kuna. Two centuries ago an epidemic drove them from the mainland to the islands. They built up a new life as fishermen and subsistence farmers. Now the rising sea level is a new threat to their islands. Storms erode the beaches, and floods wash away their homes. Soon the Kuna will have to move again, this time back to the mainland.
DAY 140 / 3 AUGUST 2011 - 01:59 - 11565 KM / PANAMA CITY, PANAMA THE QUIET FORCE Panama is home to the largest colony of Chinese in Central America. The first 1600 immigrants arrived in 1854, after the end of the gold rush in the United States. They worked on constructing the first railway connection between the two oceans. In the 1980s, when China opened its borders, a second wave followed. The 200,000 Chinese in Panama have acquired considerable economic power in the country, but rarely intervene openly in the political sphere.
DAY 150 / 13 AUGUST 2011 - 12:10 - 12135 KM / SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA A NEW START NEXT DOOR As a prosperous country, Costa Rica is a popular destination for migrants. Nicaraguans in particular go there in search of a better life. One of them is the 26-year-old rapper Douglas `Transformer` Contreras. After years of criminal activity, he has settled in the Costa Rican capital San JosĂŠ to begin a new life.
DAY 195 / 27 SEPTEMBER 2011 - 05:12 - 12556 KM /SAN JUAN DEL SUR, NICARAGUA SITTING PRETTY IN A POOR COUNTRY Central America is a favorite destination for moderately wealthy retired North Americans who want to leave behind the rat race in their own country, and make their money go farther. In their search for quieter and less expensive places, some of them have chosen to settle in Nicaragua. It is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere - but also one of the safest. They have started a second life for themselves on the tranquil bay of San Juan del Sur.
DAY 207 / 09 OCTOBER 2011 - 11:00 - 12698 / GRANADA, NICARAQUA PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY DIVIDED In many cases immigration means a definitive break within a family. Even if the distance is not so great, as is the case for many Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, a visit to the family members who stayed behind is expensive and time-consuming. Eighteen years ago Conney HernĂĄndez Lacayo left her home in Granada, Nicaragua. She now lives with her family in San JosĂŠ, the Costa Rican capital. Most of her children and grandchildren know their family on the other side of the border only from photos.
DAY 226 / 28 OCTOBER 2011 - 04:48 - 13281 KM / SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS NO COUNTRY TO GO BACK TO More than 200,000 of the six million people living in Honduras have roots in Palestine. They are the third largest Palestinian community outside of the Middle East - after Chile and the United States. They are almost all Orthodox Christians, and despite their being only a small fraction of the total population, many of the Palestinians hold important positions in trade, industry and politics in Honduras.
DAY 239 / 10 NOVEMBER 2011 - 01:41 - 13545 KM / SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR MONEY, GOD AND GANGS El Salvador has been called the most Americanized country in Latin America. It has been estimated that a third of its citizens live in the U.S. - often illegally. A significant part of El Salvador’s national income is made up of the money which these emigrants send back, and American culture has penetrated this small Central American country. Hamburger chains and evangelical churches are signs of this new Americanized way of life. More problematically, illegal Salvadorans deported from the U.S. in the 90s brought along the gang culture and its criminal activities to their fatherland.
DAY 248 / 19 NOVEMBER 2011 - 01:41 - 15009 KM / TECUN UMAN, GUATEMALA RIVER OF HOPE The Suchiate, the river which forms the border between Guatemala and Mexico, is a busy smugglers’ route, for commodities such as gasoline and drugs, but also for people. In addition to the many local residents who go back and forth daily, many Central American migrants attempt the crossing to Mexico. They wade, swim or use small boats to get across the first great obstacle on the way to their destination: the United States..
DAY 262 / 3 DECEMBER 2011 - 03:55 - 15551 KM / ARRIAGA, MEXICO THE TRACK NORTH Traveling the length of Mexico is the first hurdle that Central American migrants have to overcome in their journey to the United States. They cross the country by bus, on foot, or by hitching rides on freight trains. It is a dangerous trip. Illegal, and thus fair game, as these migrants try to avoid the authorities, they run the risk of becoming victims of human traffickers, or being robbed, raped or murdered. And yet hundreds continue to cross the border into Mexico daily, seeking a place on the trains going north.
DAY 286 / 27 DECEMBER 2011 - 01:13 - 20716 KM / NOGALES, USA THE WALL OF SHAME The boundary between Mexico and the United States does more than separate two countries: for many it is still a border between two worlds; worlds of wealth and poverty, of hope and hopelessness - despite the economical growth in Mexico and the consequences of the financial crisis in the United States. For the hundreds of migrants from Mexico and Central America who try to cross that border every day, it is the last obstacle on their way to the North. To stop them, the Americans have spent millions of dollars militarizing the area along the border and building a fence almost twenty-five feet high. Yet the flood continues, despite the dangers. Every year attempts to cross the border claim the lives of hundreds of migrants who become enmeshed in the continual cat-and-mouse game between organizations which try to help them, people traffickers who make money off them, and the
DAY 292 / 2 JANUARY 2012 - 03:13 - 21004 KM / PHOENIX, USA END OF THE DREAM The greatest worry of the 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States is staying out of the hands of the authorities, so as not to be sent back to the country they came from. Many hundreds of thousands do not succeed in doing so. They come to the notice of the authorities in routine controls as the result of traffic violations, or when arrested for a crime. Every day planes full of migrants being deported leave the US.
DAY 323 / 02 FEBRUARY 2012 - 10:34 - 20716 KM / EL CAJUN, USA RELUCTANT GUESTS `Little Baghdad` is the nickname for El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego. A large number of the 60,000 Iraqi refugees in the San Diego area live here. The Kurds came in the late 1980s, followed later by Sunnis, Shiites and Christians. They live together peacefully in Little Baghdad, far away from the violence, but life there is far from easy. Often from the higher levels of society, the Iraqis lost their status and their social network when they immigrated. In the US they have no work, and hatred of foreigners is increasing. Recently El Cajon was the scene of a racist murder of a young Iraqi woman.
DAY 292 / 2 JANUARY 2012 - 03:13 - 21004 KM / PHOENIX, USA HELPERS FROM THE SOUTH Most Mexican migrants to the United States settle in the border states, such as California and Arizona. But some go farther north, and end up in the state of Washington, in the north-west corner of the continuous 48 American states. There they satisfy the demand for for cheap labour on livestock ranches and farms growing fruit. On many of the farms almost all of the workers are Mexicans, some legal residents of the US, and others not.
DAY 349 / 28 FEBRUARY2012 - 01:48 - 23047 KM / VANCOUVER, CANADA STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND Canada is known for being relatively hospitable to migrants and minorities. The laws protecting the rights of its indigenous peoples are well written, but in practice there is little attention given to their problems. The 630 indigenous groups called the First Nations and total about 700,000 people, many of whom live in poverty and feel that they are victims of discrimination. Many migrate to big cities like Vancouver looking for work, but once there they often find it difficult to maintain their identity and culture.
DAY 361 / 11 MARCH 2012 - 10:46 - 27189 KM / DEADHORSE, ALASKA THE COLD END OF THE WORLD At the end of the Pan American Highway, in the extreme north of Alaska, lies Deadhorse. The place owes its existence to the oil which has been being extracted from the ground around it since the 1970s - generally by international companies which lease the land from the indigenous peoples. Almost all of the residents of Deadhorse are migrants from ‘the Lower Forty-eight’ (the rest of the United States) or from Latin America.
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