Squatters

I decided to shoot a group of people that moved into anabandoned building. With housing shortages and many poor people, it’s easy tounderstand how people can do what this group did. I wasn’t too comfortable withthe idea in the beginning. From previous experiences I knew that people couldget really hostile when they think you are threatening their homes or theplaces where they sleep. I took a bit of time beforehand to go and speak tothem to explain why I wanted to shoot the images and how it would help them inthe long run. They seemed to be happy with my explanation.

On the day of the shoot I was pleasantly surprised when theystarted inviting me into their homes. They eagerly showed me how they havemanaged to turn an abandoned building into their homes. Some of these dwellingwere really neat and surprisingly big. They have managed to make a place forthemselves. Of course there were no toilet facilities and they had to collectwater from a tap in a nearby park.

But in the end of the day they seemed comfortable with wherethey stayed and enough camaraderie existed that it became a pleasant experiencefor me. I didn’t have time to go into alcohol, drug use and all the socialproblems that go with conditions like these. I also suspect that the childrenwere also not attending school. That will be a topic for another visit.