Welcome to the Second Part of our Guest Post from photographer and journalist Caroline Irby, whose interview with PaperTigers is also featured 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 (Black Dog Publishing (UK), in association with Oxfam, 2010) – and without further ado, here are the rest of the photographs that Caroline has kindly shared with us, along with some of the background to each one.

I’ve taken photographs for the NGO WaterAid a few times in Africa, and their head of photography in London offered to help with this project, knowing that some of their UK-based employees are from overseas. Alexander’s father, Anthony, came forward.

The Community of Malian Refugees introduced me to Oumou’s family, now living in London.

BBC World Service were a brilliant resource: their journalists come from all over the world and I spoke with people working on every different language desk there. A woman on the ‘French for Africa’ desk gave me Boubacar’s contact details.

Daniel’s father was working for a refugee organisation in Scotland, and they put me in touch with him.

I met a Cuban on the London underground; he knew no Cuban children in the UK but did have a Peruvian contact, whom I called and who invited me to a party for Peruvians near Waterloo. There were no Peruvian children at the party born in Peru, but I was given contact details there for a boy called Luis…

I joined an online chatroom for people from St Vincent and the Grenadines living overseas; Andree-Ann’s much older sister responded to my message that I was looking for a young St Vincentian in London, and suggested her younger sister…

I met Emmanuel through an organisation called Refugee Action, which provides support to refugees who have arrived in the UK direct from refugee camps, as part of the UK government’s Gateway Protection Programme.

Bola was the last child I interviewed for this project. After trying all the more obvious routes (the Swazi embassy, South Africans living in the UK, online chatrooms etc), I contacted an independent newspaper in Swaziland, hoping I might find a journalist there who’d studied in the UK and had connections in this country. There I found a man called Welcome, who gave me the number of a Swazi lady living in London.

Oxford University put me in touch with Fiona’s family: her mother is a postgraduate student here.

I met Emilia at her school, in a very multicultural area of Leeds.

The Scottish Refugee Council gave me Fernanda’s details; she was one of the first children I met with.

Thank you again, Caroline, and many congratulations on the arrival of your own baby son in August.

The exhibition of A Child from Everywhere has now closed in London but will be opening in Japan later this month: at Okazaki World Children’s Art Museum from 18th September to 28th November 2010, then at Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, from 21st December 2010 – 23rd January 2011.

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.

(Click on event name for more information)

Adarna House’s Workshops for Literacy~ Philipinnes

Cape Town Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug  2, Cape Town, South Africa

The 39th Annual SCBWI International Summer Conference~ ongoing until Aug 2, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Lima International Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug 4, Lima, Peru

Simply Life, Simply Color: An Exhibit of Illustrator Ruben de Jesus’ Work~ ongoing until Aug 8, Makati City, Philippines

2010 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ ongoing until Aug 16, Tokyo, Japan

Caroline Irby’s Exhibition: A Child From Everywhere~ ongoing until Aug 30, London, United Kingdom

An Exquisite Vision: The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger~ongoing until Sep 26, Amherst, MA, USA

Submissions Accepted for Lee & Low’s New Voices Writers Award~ ongoing until Sep 30, USA

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Exhibit: Golden Kite, Golden Dreams: the SCBWI Awards~ ongoing until Oct 1, Abilene, TX, USA

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibit: From the Collection~ ongoing until Oct 24, Riddells Creek, Australia

Expo 2010~ ongoing until  Oct 31, Shanghai, China

International Youth Library Exhibit: Shaun Tan, Pictures and Books~ ongoing until Oct 31, Munich, Germany

Everyday Adventures Growing Up: Art from Picture Books~ ongoing until Nov 28, Chicago, IL, USA

Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2011~ entries accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

Seminar on Korean History & Culture for K – 12 Teachers and Administrators~ Aug 2  – 6, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Booktalkers: Girls Read Too~ Aug 2, Melbourne, Australia

International Youth Library Exhibition: The Treasury of Binette Schroeder~ Aug 4 – Oct 1, Munich, Germany

Kazakhstan Reading Association Conference~ Aug 5 – 7, Taraz, Kazakhstan

Books, Brushes, and Ashley Bryan~ Aug 8, Amherst, MA, USA

Landscapes of Literacy: From Library to Studio in the Early Childhood Centers of Pistoia, Italy~ Aug 8 – 9, Amherst, MA, USA

The Canadian Book Camp~ Aug 9 – 13, Vancouver, BC, Canada

World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly~ Aug 10 – 15, Gothenburg, Sweden

FinRA Finnish Reading Association 2nd Baltic Sea Conference, 15th Nordic Reading Conference: Literacy Skills for Learning~ Aug 11 – 13, Åbo/Turku, Finland

Puffinalia: An Exhibition of Puffin Books 1940 – 2010~ Aug 11 – 31, Melbourne, Australia

21st International Book Biennial of São Paulo~ Aug 12 – 22, São Paulo, Brazil

SCBWI Austin Presents: Representing Diversity in Children’s Books~ Aug 14, Austin, TX, USA

Edinburgh International Book Festival~ Aug 14 – 30, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children’s Writers and Illustrators~ Aug 15 – 22, New Zealand

LIANZA Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Aug 16, Wellington, New Zealand

Library Week~ Aug 16 – 22, New Zealand

Reading Association of Nigeria Biennial Conference~ Aug 18 – 21, Makurdi, Nigeria

Chapter & Verse, a Book Club for Adults Discussing Children’s Lit~ Aug 19, USA

Children’s Book of the Year Awards Winners Announced~ Aug 20, Australia

The Crichton Award for New Illustrators Winner Announced~ Aug 21, Australia

Summer Dream Literary Arts Festival~ Aug 21, Vancouver, BC, Canada

CBCA’s Children’s Book Week: Across the Story Bridge~ Aug 21 – 27, Australia

2010 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Aug 21 – Sep 26, Nishinomiya, Japan

Indigenous Literacy Project’s I Heart Art – Art Auction~ Aug 25, Sydney, Australia

Western Australia Spring Poetry Festival and National Poetry Week~ Aug 27 – Sep 5, Australia

Melbourne Writers Festival: Stories From Every Angle~ Aug 27 – Sep 5, Melbourne, Australia

Singapore International Storytelling Festival~ Aug 30 – Sep 8, Singapore

Taranaki Children’s Book Festival~ Aug 31 – Sep 4, Taranaki, New Zealand

Photographer Caroline Irby spent one year tracking down a child born in every country in the world  that now resides in the United Kingdom.  She found children from 185 of the world’s 192 nations, photographed and interviewed each one of them. Her  resulting photographic book, A Child from Everywhere, features the children sharing their thoughts on  leaving their countries of origin, their hopes for their new lives in the UK and their observations of cultural differences.

A selection of Irby’s photographs along with a series of short films that she made of her interviews with the children is on exhibit until August 30th at the V&A Museum of Childhood, London, UK. Entry to the museum and exhibit is free.

Stay tuned to PaperTigers as we will have an interview with Caroline in our  upcoming August/September issue and she will also be guest blogging here on our blog!