Transparency

Transparency featured in The Guardian, July 2002

Transparency exhibition at The Spitz Gallery, London 2002

Transparency featured in The Newham Recorder, July 2002

In England I don't know who I am; I know my name and other things but I do not know what I am doing here. In my own language I could tell you many things about myself but I find it hard to speak in English.

Total Exhaustion; Maximum Compliance.

One day I was directed to the wrong floor by an officer who told the lady accompanying me not to bother explaining which was the right floor. We were supposed to be on the 3rd floor but ended up on the 2nd floor. We spent so long waiting there. I has gone to collect my ID card - I was totally exhausted by the end.

Dreaming

I wish I was up there / On stage in the spotlight / So I can sing and dance / And the world is watching

I wish just for a moment / To go back in time/ Behind the curtains preparing myself / Like a rainbow to come out.

The time is not gone / It's coming back quickly / I am in London and dancing / And the people clap.

Light bulb

One day I was in my room and lying on my bed looking at the ceiling. I started thinking how in this country it is funny - if you want to you can get up, flick a switch and the light will come on.

Homeless Mojo

When I arrived here I was shocked to see homeless people in old and dirty clothes on the streets. I thought that this would be one of the differences between the First World and the Third World countries. Why are there people in Britain living on the streets? This is Mojo. Mojo and I wonder why the government takes more care of foreigners - asylum seekers - than the British people living on the streets. Isn't it our responsibility to try and advocate for their rights? Mojo is just like you and me and he deserves his rights.

Homeless Mojo

Birds in this country remind me of the parrots and wild animals in Africa. I took this picture in Green Park. I used to think there were no trees in London. Because Africa has lots of bush, people imagine London to be so modern, that there will be no trees, no bush. Maybe people here think that there are no buildings in Africa.

My Friend

This is my friend 'Bomi'. I brought him in London because I live alone and I need friends. Sometimes I talk to him. He doesn't talk back.

Lots of Ice Cream

I dream of eating lots of ice cream all at once. I wanted to make my sister look funny. We were all smiling when we took this photo.

The project was to photograph Brick Lane. I like black and white photography because the pictures are not busy and look all serious. I like photos of shapes and black and white is good for that. Before I only knew colour photography but I am now more interested in black and white pictures.

Transparency workshop

"People have to understand what a big difference there is between our different countries. It is like the difference between night and day. I don't think anyone comes like a tourist, just coming here to have fun. I don't want to be a refugee but I was not given any choice. I don't want people to call me refugee. I want to be seen as everybody else. I believe people are all the same. So, you are English and I am a refugee. What are you that is more than me? I think like that but other people think other things".

Bajram, 16 years, Kosovo

In 2000, 2,735 unaccompanied refugee children applied for asylum in the UK, but still relatively little was known about their individual experiences. Child refugees arriving without a parent or guardian have to cope with huge challenges as they settle into life in the UK, adrift from their own culture, language and support structures, stripped of any certainty for their future and often on the run from extreme trauma and in search of sanctuary. All too often they are met by public hostility, stigma, and discrimination which only serves to compound their isolation.

In 2002 I initiated, managed and facilitated Transparency, a participatory photography project with unaccompanied refugee youth in London's East End from countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Iraq, Nigeria, Romania, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. Through photography, the 13 students expressed their desire for people to look beyond their refugee status and to see them as they see themselves: as teenagers, far from home, in a difficult present, determined to succeed in spite of their past.

The project grew to be an important support network for the young participants as well as providing them with a creative outlet through which they could combat the dehumanising portrayal of refugees presented in the British media. One participant went on to study photography at university level, one has continued to work as a photographer and videographer. Another member of the group became a finalist in a national self-portraiture competition, featured on Channel 4 and exhibited in London's National Portrait Gallery. A number went on to participate in further PhotoVoice projects, collaborating as assistant facilitators and project advisors as well as participants.

In June 2003, the Transparency project won the Arts, Culture and Heritage category of the Charity Awards 2003.

Transparency was a partnership project between PhotoVoice and Project Dost based at The Trinity Community Centre in East Ham. PhotoVoice and Project DOST went on to collaborate on a number of subsequent projects. Transparency was funded by Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

Transparency documentary by Dominque Chadwick and Camille Warrington

Transparency photo booklet