Portrait of Mailing (representing her concern about his situation), taken by Omo on the Can Basté photography set. Mailing, a Venezuelan teenager, fled from her country with her mother and sister. In Barcelona she is continuing her education at secondary school.
Photograph: Omo / Refugee dreams
Portrait of Elena (representing her pain due to the war in her country), taken by Bruntha on the Can Basté photography set. Elena was born in Ukraine in 1999. Music has always been her passion; in her country she sang in a choir. She arrived in Barcelona at the beginning of 2017. She is a very good student and she feels optimistic about her new life. Knowing she has the support of her family is essential to her in this new chapter of her life.
Photograph: Bruntha / Refugee dreams
Portrait of Osama (representing the joy of a victory), taken by Bruntha on the Can Basté photography set. Osama was born in Bengasi, Libya in 1984. He liked living on the Mediterranean coast. When he was young he used to work as a volunteer lifeguard in the summer. He graduated in Accounting and worked as a marketing technician. He has been in the Scouts International group since he was a teenager, which he loves. He arrived in Barcelona in 2015 for an eye operation after he suffered an accident in his country caused by the armed conflict there. He works sporadically in department stores as a shelf-stacker.
Photograph: Bruntha / Refugee dreams
Portrait of Nanthasri (representing hope for a better future), taken by Osama on the Can Basté photography set. Nanthasri was born in Sri Lanka in 1992. In his country he had various jobs in the world of communications such as a graphic designer, a cartoonist with motion graphics, a journalist and an actor. He also liked photography and cinema. He arrived in Barcelona at the end of 2016, where he started to study Spanish and photography and did various stints in restaurant kitchens. At the beginning of 2018, he started to work as a content designer for BTV. He is extremely happy to be able to do a job related to his passion here in Barcelona.
Photograph: Osama / Refugee dreams
Portrait of Mailing by Laura Gil, social worker at the Spanish Catholic Migration Commission Association (ACCEM). In the first session of this period we asked the students to write down on a piece of paper their objectives for the course. Mailing wrote “a change of routine” and “to learn new things”.
Photograph: Laura Gil / Refugee dreams
Portrait of Mailing by her sister Carolina. Mailing, like many of those applying for international protection, could be mistaken for a tourist or simply a resident of Barcelona.
Photograph: Carolina / Refugee dreams
Bruntha loves visiting Barcelona’s tourist spots and photographing them. Here she is taking a photograph of some friends outside Maremàgnum shopping centre in the Old Port with seagulls walking past her.
Photograph: Bruntha / Refugee dreams
Osama photographing himself against the mirrored ceiling of the new Encants flea market in the Plaça de les Glòries. This is one of the photography outings he went on during the six months of the “Refugee dreams” project.
Photograph: Osama / Refugee dreams
A self-portrait of Osama looking at himself in the window of a restaurant in La Barceloneta.
Photograph: Osama / Refugee dreams
Self-portrait of Bruntha inside the Sagrada Família. Bruntha likes visiting the city’s tourist attractions with her local and foreign friends.
Photograph: Bruntha / Refugee dreams
Portrait of Mohammed (representing his suffering at being separated from his family), taken by Marina on the Can Basté photography set. Mohammed was born in Somalia in 1988. When he was 2 years old his family decided to emigrate to Saudi Arabia, which is where he grew up and went to school. He worked for a time as an Arabic to Somali translator at the Somalian embassy in Syria. His father and his brother were both killed by a terrorist group. His mother and his other siblings are currently missing somewhere near the Kenyan border after fleeing from the armed conflict. One of his biggest dreams is to become a professional photographer and the best Somalian photographer.
Photograph: Marina / Refugee dreams
Mohammed, Osama, Marina and Fahad wait for their friends in front of Palau Robert, where they have arranged to meet to see a photography exhibition.
Photograph: Héctor Mediavilla / Refugee dreams
Mohammed, a participant in the “Refugee dreams” project, photographs Pieter Hugo’s exhibition on electronic waste in Africa.
Photograph: Héctor Mediavilla / Refugee dreams
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This is not just a number
They are the defenceless people seeking protection who have died in the Mediterranean sea.
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