Foreigner


  • Photographer
    Daniel Castro Garcia
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Daniel Castro Garcia
  • Date of Photograph
    2015
  • Technical Info
    Medium Format Film
Story

Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015-2016 is a long-term photography project that offers an alternative narrative and photographic landscape for the migrant/refugee crisis in Europe. Having visited nearly all of Europe’s migration hotspots over the last year, my aim is to continue documenting the situation of the individuals that have opened new chapters of the their lives in Europe. My hope is to further develop the collaborative approach of the project, which enables those at the centre of this crisis to represent themselves, and subsequently develop an alternative photographic landscape for the story.

Foreigner is an empowering project motivated by tolerance, understanding and criticism. My aim is to question the reality portrayed by the media and to offer a valid alternative to the hyperbole and dramatisation of the subject with a calmer, more intimate and personal approach to documentation. In the age of digital media, I believe that it is important that people are given the opportunity to share their stories in new and pioneering ways that break the conventions set out by news platforms that have not been capable of maintaining high journalistic standards that are independent and objective. As the rhetoric of the crisis has been entwined with labored, deceitful politics and corruption and a notable degree of compassion fatigue, it is my wish to continue working on such an important subject with integrity, humility and passion.

In May 2015 Foreigner was published into a book, which I feel provided the work a new backdrop and method for this social crisis to be dissected. One of my primary curiosities over the course of this year has been to consider the life-span of images and how with social media a public’s attention span is greatly diminished. With facebook and instagram images live for a few seconds, in print they can live for a day or a week, however by publishing the images in a book I feel they gain the gravitas to emphasise their historical and factual value. Taking this into consideration I feel that this collection and project successfully analyses the personal impacts of the refugee/migrant crisis across Europe but maintains the integrity of those at the very core of the situation.

This complicated and delicate situation may indeed need complicated solutions, but one of the first things we can do is address the political discourse around these issues. When journalism and public discourse move into the sphere of inflammatory language and misinformation, so often the real victims are forgotten.

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