Guest Post: Caroline Irby on "A Child from Everywhere"
It is a real privilege to welcome photographer and journalist Caroline Irby to the PaperTigers Blog to share some of the photographs from her recently published book A Child from Everywhere (Black Dog Publishing (UK), in association with Oxfam, 2010), in which she has brought together children from 185 countries now living in the UK. In itself it is quite an achievement, but what makes this project so very special is how Caroline has captured the children in her beautiful photographs, and how they then speak to us in their own words.
You can read an interview with Caroline in our current issue of PaperTigers, in which she talks about the project. Here, she gives us an idea of how widely she had to throw her net to track down children from so many countries. Enjoy these stunning photographs – and we’ll be bringing you more in a second post next month.
I called the Andorran Embassy in London and the Ambassador’s wife agreed to help… Andorra is a tiny country with few nationals living in the UK; it took a few months to find an Andorran child here.
An organisation called Education Leeds gave me the details of a few schools in multicultural areas. One of these yielded Akeilah.
I wanted to reflect the extent of the diaspora of the recent wave of immigration; I’d also never been to the Orkneys and was curious to see so I contacted the Orkney Isles Education Authority and they found me Juan.
The Dominica Embassy in London helped me to track down Alissa.
University postgraduate departments are home to many foreign students; Cardiff University put me in touch with this family from Egypt.
I got talking to someone at a Christmas party about this project; her daughter was at school with Elsabet…
The British army recruits soldiers from Fiji, amongst other countries. I knew of an army barrack in Tidworth village, Hampshire, and contacted the local school, who let me interview a couple of children.
A friend of mine living in Oxford has a daughter who goes to school with Aura…
I noticed a sign reading, ‘Ivoirien Computing and Community Centre’ outside a portacabin on an estate near my home. The man working at reception connected me with Inza’s family.
Cambridge Racial Equality and Diversity Service introduced me to a few recently-arrived children who they give English language support to. Moeko was one of them.
I contacted the Pacific Islands Society and they invited me to a party for Pacific Islanders in London. I met Isabella’s family there.
As Corinne wrote a couple of weeks ago, there is an exhibition of A Child from Everywhere now on in London – or do get hold of the book for yourself: not only for the actual photographs, but also to read the insightful, thought-provoking and sometimes funny observations the children make about their new and old homes. I can’t recommend it highly enough! Thank you, Caroline.
September 7th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
[...] in our current issue. If you missed Part One, then head on over there straight away to take a look at her stunning photographs of some of the children from her recent book A Child from Everywhere [...]