Welcome to my blog…

A few images from Malta…

As some of you are aware, Malika and I recently spent two weeks in Malta researching and attempting to document the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees who find themselves on the small island.  I am certain it will not be our last visit.  I shall definitely return.

Each year, hundreds and into the thousands of individuals make a perilous journey across the Sahara, through Libya and onto the Mediterranean Sea in search of safety in the European Union.  They pack themselves into trucks and then boats run by criminals who profit from their suffering; many do not survive the journey, dying of heat exhaustion in the desert or drowning during the crossing.  Boats are not always seaworthy and there is no room on the boat for supplies of food and water.  If the engines fail, or the winds are against them, a two day journey can extend into six…

The boats are not officially heading for Malta.  Many of those on board envisage a welcome in Italy and through Italy the opportunity to make it across the land into other EU countries.  However, if the boat and its illegal cargo gets into trouble in Maltese waters, it is the small, ill-equipped country’s responsibility to come to their aid.

‘Aid’ in this context is a loaded, emotive term.  The first part of the process takes place in a detention centre.  Malika and I did not get access to witness these places first hand, but many people told us of their experiences.  Men spoke of being being held in over-crowded dorm rooms, poor sanitation and food and most horrifically, only getting outside for fresh air, sunlight and exercise for one hour per week.  Legally, individuals can be held in detention for one year.  If an individual can prove that they require humanitarian assistance – say they are fleeing the war in Somalia for instance – they can be released into an ‘Open Centre’ in a matter of days or weeks (depending on how quickly they can be processed and whether or not they have the correct documentation with them proving their identity.)  If it looks like the individual is an Economic Migrant they will often stay in detention for the maximum term.

Those deemed vulnerable are released more quickly – so, unaccompanied children (yes, minors do actually make the journey on their own!) pregnant women, family groups, and those with disabilities are moved from detention into ‘Open Centres’.

With the exception of unaccompanied children, who stay in special accommodation, those in the Open Centres can live there officially for one year.  During this time they are given a per diem allowance of 4.33 Euros a day for each adult.  Those who are not granted refugee status or humanitarian protection are given less.  To receive the payment, individuals must sign on three times a week.  If they fail to sign on, money is docked or stopped (dependent on circumstances.)

An Open Centre is one where the residents are free to come and go.  They vary in size and the type of accommodation on offer.

The photographs here are some of those taken in the Open Centres.  They are not my final edit and in fact are not necessarily ones that will be included at all (it will take me much longer to sort them out!)  My intention was to post some here to give you a sense of what life is like in the centres and how individuals cope. 

What is very clear to me is that Malta needs help from the rest of the world.  The NGOs who run the centres are trying their best, but do not have the resources to provide every person with the sort of accommodation and support that is needed to ensure they can live with dignity.  Many of them have suffered in their home countries, have suffered on the journey to Europe and are still suffering now.  

It is definitely time that the UK for one offered some form of assistance…

Hal Far Reception Centre for Women

One of the many reasons to seek asylum

A room for the most vulnerable will have four beds; most dorms sleep 6 or 7; one sleeps 14

Cooking facilities are basic. 14 gas rings serve 117 residents. The kitchen has no work surfaces on which to prepare meals.

According to information she gave to the Maltese authorities, this girl is 19. She told us she was 15. She travelled to Europe on her own.

Chores are shared amongst the residents. If you don't keep to the rota, you are fined.

The accommodation was built as a detention centre. Barred doors and windows are still in evidence. It feels like a prison.

 Family Centres

As Malika was focusing on documenting in the Women’s Centre, it was going to be my remit to look at how the families cope with living through the asylum/refugee/immigration process.  Initially, I should have been based at the Hal Far Families’ Centre, but problems with a Maltese resident and a very stressed-out co-ordinator made this impossible.  I did spend a couple of hours there before having to leave and was horrified by the poor standard of accommodation in the only block I was allowed to see…  The second centre was in B’Kara and was very different.  The former convent can accommodate up to 16 families or family units (including single mothers or fathers and accompanying children.)  ’The Rainbow’ is used to house the most vulnerable families and is a very secure place: no visitors are allowed on the premises.

Hal Far Families' Centre

How many staff does it take to change a lightbulb? Well, arrange a room swap...

Communal stairwell

The houses are former WWII barracks, in need of some repair

Communal kitchen. The cooker is not standard issue: it was left behind by a former resident

The bed-sitting room 'O' shares with his pregnant wife. Two sets of bunkbeds and one single ensure a family of 5 could live here.

Mary in the courtyard. The majority of The Rainbow's residents are Muslim.

The kitchen is the heart of the house.

Some of the residents are tiny. Often their mothers have made the journey from Africa heavily pregnant.

Logs are kept of the residents' movements.

Visitors gossip on the front door step.

English lessons are provided by volunteers for those who are willing to learn.

Fahtoun escaped from Somalia. She has been in Malta 10 days and is happy both she and her daughter are now safe.

One year old twins and their mother live in a room with no natural daylight and no source of fresh air.

Frustration between residents can result in violence. Security staff are on duty each night to protect staff and residents.

Marsa Open Centre

The Marsa Open Centre is for men only.  I only spent a couple of hours there on an ‘official tour’.  This meant that I was shown the ground floor communal facilities and not the mens’ private living accommodation.  What was evident from the visit is that the management at Marsa encourage and facilitate enterprise – the centre includes ‘restaurants’, two barber shops, small stores and stalls.  For a nominal rent, if space is available, a man can begin a small business.  European money has been spent on providing educational facilities (a well equipped classroom) and a new restaurant (closed due to Ramadan.)

 

Marsa

Behind the door, 30 men sleep in bunk-beds.

Chelsea fans are everywhere, even in a Marsa Open Centre 'restaurant'.

The General Store.

If only all of the facilities could be like this. 75% funded by the EU.

Hal Far Tent Village

On my final day in Malta, I was lucky enough to get into the Tent Village.  On concrete platforms stand 43 military style tents, each one ‘home’ to approximately 12 men (although they could accommodate 20.)  Four new mobile homes are currently being installed on site – these will house the most vulnerable residents; on the day I visited they became home to two pregnant ladies and their husbands as there was no room for them in any of the other centres.

Each tent is connected to the electricity supply, although residents know to avoid all cooking at once…  Toilet facilities, showers and basins are found in a purpose built block.  On arrival, residents are given a pillow and a sleeping bag and are allocated a specific bed in a specific tent.  Individuals and groups have invested in televisions, satellite dishes, second hand fridges and an interesting array of broken furniture in an effort to make the tents their homes.  It is a difficult environment in which to live: roasting hot in the summer and freezing in the winter; the tents leak when it rains and many of the men made sure to tell me how terrible the tent village is.  However, on the day I visited it was not a place of despair.  The staff are incredibly positive, hard-working and supportive of the residents (as long as they respect one another and the rules) and it was clear that they have good relationships with those in their care.  

 

Hal Far Tent Village

Home.

Fresh out of Detention. New arrivals.

Processing the new arrivals.

Providing the basics.

A brand new mobile home for the married couples. Eventually, it could sleep 8 people.

Domestic life in tented accommodation.

Cooking and sleeping sometimes go side by side.

Keeping track of the residents. Each individual has a unique reference number allocated by the police that refers to their year of arrival and the boat on which they arrived.

The 't' shirt says it all!

 

I have met many extraordinary people over the past two weeks, and some of their stories will be shared elsewhere.  But the one phrase that will stick in my mind for a long time to come was offered to me by Mohammed Hassan (formerly of Somalia and now of Hal Far Tent Village,) these three words seem to sum up the experience of all of those who have found themselves in Malta on the way to their ‘freedom’:

‘Hope is Power’.

 

The Narrative, Final Edit

Sid at 71

9,697,800 people in the UK are aged 65 and over.
2.5 million pensioners (over 1 in 5) live below the poverty line.
9%  of people aged 65 and over in the UK feel they are cut off from society.
12% of older people feel trapped in their own homes.

(Statistics from various government sources – all to be found on the Help the Aged website)

If you read the above statistics published by the charity Help the Aged, the impression that we get of becoming older is that it is a negative experience.  Pensioners are poor, isolated, trapped, discriminated against.  Whilst there is no doubt that this is the experience of some, it is not that of all.

Look again at the statistics:  if 1 in 5 live below the poverty line, then 4 do not.
If 9% feel cut off from society, 91% do not.

This 91% might as well be invisible as far as the media is concerned; they are ignored rather than celebrated.

Sid is 71 and one of the 91%.  He is part of the invisible majority  A retired engineer (a toolmaker to be precise), he also served in the RAF reserves, did a stint as a commercial photographer, and for fifty years has been a committed naturist.  He leads a quiet life, but not a dull one.

Unlike the stereotype so often presented by the media, he is neither vulnerable, nor sad.  Sid is passionate about motorbikes (his pride and joy, is a 1969 Triumph Bonneville), he holidays in a VW Campervan, walks Dartmoor and Exmoor with a naturist walking group and is a member of The Motorcycle Nudes.  He works out to his Coronation Street exercise video three or four times a week; for an older man, he has strong thighs!

Although married for 49 years, they have been celibate since 1976; their bedrooms are at either end of a short corridor.  The most intimate contact he has is now with the semi-strangers he dances with at his weekly jive class.

This is a photographic narrative about one septuagenarian who although conscious of his increasing years (and expanding waistline), chooses to engage with the world in his own (mostly naked) way.

He is old, but happy.  There is an alternative to those statistics!

“The fitness teacher used to be the barmaid in Coronation Street. The DVD lasts an hour; I do it three or four times a week.”

“I do most of the talking. Half of the time Norma doesn't really listen.”

“I was 17 the first time I sunbathed in the nude; I've been a proper naturist for 50 years.”

"My skin's pretty tough. I spend most of my time outside, even in the winter.”

“I've three motorbikes and a moped. My favourite is the 1969 Bonneville. She's a beauty.”

“We've been celibate since 1976. We don't even touch anymore.”

“It's Norma's conservatory really; she paid for it.”

“I go to camper van rallies. I meet up with friends from the VW forum.”

“Norma made the rose in a metalwork class. It's all rusty now.”

“I still work quite hard, fixing things and digging the garden. I don't overdo it though. I make sure I rest.”

“I go dancing 2 or 3 times a week. Rachel is a new partner. She's good fun, like a daughter.”

“I like simple things. Lunch is often a sandwich. I really love cheese, but have cut down to try to lose weight.”

“I love being out. I walk with a group. It's all blokes, but women and textiles are welcome.”

Research:

Help the Aged – http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb

Saga – http://www.saga.co.uk/

Abstract from research into the presentation of older people and the way this affects their treatment by Alison Parsons, Nursing Unit Manager, St Vincents Hospital, Sydney -
http:www.ciap.health.nsw.gov.au/hospolic/stvincents/1993/a06.html

Articles:

‘Joan Bakewell to put a spring in the step of the elderly.’  Marie Woolf, The Sunday Times,
November 9, 2008 – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5114845.ece

‘Ageism, pensions and the end of high heels – it’s time I spoke up.’   Joan Bakewell, The Guardian,
November 10, 2008 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/10/ageism-joan-bakewell-voice-of-older-people-pensions

Michele Hanson, The Guardian, November 11, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/11/features-features

Contemporary photographers who have made work about older people:

Georgina Ravenscroft, ‘a prime passage’

Julian Germain, ‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’

Larry Sultan, ‘Pictures from Home’

Nicholas Nixon, ‘Pictures of People’

Steven Tynan, ‘Robber’

Peter Granser, ‘Sun City’

Mario Giacomelli – ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Death will come and it will have your eyes’

Naomi Harris – ‘Haddon Hall’ – http://www.naomiharris.com/

The Spot Project, Final Edit

Word: Red

“If you happen to walk any distance between two redheaded girls, it is a sign that you will soon be very rich.”

Approximately 1% of the world’s population has ginger or red hair.

“Redheaded women are either violent or false, and usually are both.”

By 2150, it will be 0%.

“In Donegal, if a girl is born with red hair it is a sign that there was a pig under the bed.”

Folklore, myth and general foolishness would have us believe that to have red hair is to be cursed in some way or other. Challenge anyone to invent or repeat playground nicknames for redheads and they will no doubt come up with ones such as Carrot-top, Copper-Knob, Duracell and Ginga. For centuries redheads have been derided and now their very existence is at threat.

According to geneticists such as University College London’s Professor Steve Jones, the already beleaguered, recessive gene that causes red pigmentation is in danger of dying out and by 2150, we could be living on a planet without the vibrance and colour of the ‘gingers’.

The survival of the ‘ginger gene’ is now the responsibility of the boys and girls, young men and women that are to be found in the suburban garden, on the playing fields and in the high streets of all of our towns and cities.

It is a responsibility they are not quite ready to worry about just yet.

Red i

In this gap there should be a Red ii … but for some reason, it won’t load…  If you want to see the missing image, please scroll down a few pages until you find a shot of a young man, entitled Cheltenham i

Red iii

Red iv

Red v

Red vi

Red viii

Red ix

DP2 – The Spot Project: Research

Research:

Contemporary portrait photographers who have made work either about redheads, young people and/or young people on the street:

Redhead, Joel Meyerowitz

Root Ginger, Jenny Wicks

Female, Jitka Hanzlova

Portraits, Rineke Dijkstra

Seeing Red, Howard Schatz

Websites:

http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/

http://www.howardschatz.com/index.php?gallery=SEEING%20RED::3::1

http://www.redandproud.com/

http://www.roodharigen.nl/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6725653.stm

The ‘Red’ Project – one final push…

More red-heads.  I now have enough to put into a final edit.  Phew!  Once again, try to look beyond the poor digital files…  The negs look okay!  Thanks again to all of the lovely young people who stopped long enough to let me photograph them – and for coping with my learning-to-use-flash-technique.

Narrative project update

Apart from the fact that Sid’s lovely Minolta seems to have died on me (and the project isn’t finished yet) – I am still enjoying working on the Narrative.  Here are some more shots, although not ones that will go into the final edit… am saving the best until last…  Apologies for the low res scans…

 

Spot – The Ginger Project

My strategy is now about stopping young people with ginger hair on the street, explaining the idea behind the project, and if they are willing – photographing them…  Early days.  I want to use fill-in flash to ‘lift’ the portraits, but haven’t found a way of using the Metz effectively yet.

So far, I’ve photographed in Reading, Basingstoke, Cheltenham and Newport.  I’m coming to a few conclusions about young people with red or ginger hair: they are the sort of people who say, ‘yes’, even when they feel self-conscious; they say ‘yes’ not because of vanity, but because they want to help me;  they have lovely faces and beautiful hair – and mostly they don’t realise how gorgeous they are!  Oh to have been born a redhead!

Countryside i

Cheltenham i

Newport 1

Newport ii

Newport iv

Newport v

Newport iii

Reading

Basingstoke

Spot continued , again…

I’m not so happy with the following images.  The lighting was too harsh and needs to be more subtle; it’s also not consistent – what a steep learning curve I am travelling.   Clive still wants me to pursue both Spot projects: is he a sadist?  I put the images up here to show that I am working!

Sixteen (i)

Sixteen (ii)

Five (iii)

60 something (i)

Spot Project Continued: Spot I

The word for this project is, ‘Red’ and I had two ideas. The first idea was to photograph eight different girls/women, each one representing a specific decade in our lives.  Devoid of any makeup, other than red lipstick, the aim is to explore the notion of beauty and the reality of ageing.  The second idea was to make portraits of ginger or red-heads as according to some research, the hair colour will no longer be with us in approximately 50 years: the red-head is endangered.

Due to various practical and logistical problems (which I won’t go into here as they are far too tedious) I have yet to begin the ‘Ginger Project’… but I haven’t given up!

Below are a couple of images from my first ‘Red’ shoot.  The girl is five, she applied the lipstick herself.  The images were taken with a Bronica SQA and the negatives have been scanned.

5 i

5 ii

The Narrative, continued.

My most recent shoot at Sid’s was not an easy one: there was a misunderstanding between he and I about access and use of any digital scans; his wife thinks that the project is riduculous and I found it difficult to get the shots I wanted.  (The camera I am using is a sweet thing, but you can’t attach a wide lens to it.)   Luckily, Sid and I sorted things out – he is very positive about the whole project (and even tried teaching me about using flash) and I am hoping that the finished product will meet Norma’s approval!  I’ve decided to post some of the images anyway, so that you can all see what I’ve been up to.  I’m not sure that any of them will make even a preliminary cut!  Apologies for the quality – when I scanned the negs, they looked okay, but on this screen there is all sorts of weird stuff going on!

Un-made bed I

Un-made bed II

Unpacking the new bird feeder

Helmet I

The ‘Spot’ Project – Code word, ‘Red’

This brief is meant to challenge our imaginations, to see how we as photographers interpret our word and what we make from it.  As my eyes ran through the list on Clive’s screen, I immediately started thinking of projects for Travel, Identity, Home and Love; scribbled notes in the back of my little black book are a testiment to this.  The one word I didn’t want, was typically, the word that I got: Red.

I’ve had a few ideas, but to be honest, none of them are exciting me at the moment and tomorrow, I need to present two in the seminar.  Short of praying for divine intervention or taking mind-enhancing drugs, I am not sure what to do now…

Red.  In the red; my love is like a red, red rose; red is passion, anger, hatred, sex; red is danger, excitement; red is the colour of the signs that tell you what not to do, how not to drive; as Claire pointed out, red is the colour of the earth; it is the colour of the blood that pumps around our veins (well, when it hits the air anyway.) The Red Cross, The Red Crescent, The Red Brigade.  Red is one of my favourite colours.  Argh.  I need a project that is not trite, nor superficial.

Watch this space.