Dignifying migrants, and photography too

With Foreigner: Migration Into Europe 2015-1016, Daniel Castro Garcia

puts a face to the individuals caught up in the largest migrant crisis since World
War II from a humanist and empathetic stance. His portraits accomplish what
photography at its best does: to offer an emotional connection with those
depicted, to make us dig and think a little deeper, driving us to explore outside
the frame.

123456789101112
All pictures Daniel Castro Garcia, courtesy of John Radcliffe Studio.

By Pol Artola @artolariera / March 3, 2017

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity
On April 2015, two of the deadliest incidents of the so-called European migrant
crisis took place in the Mediterranean Sea. In just one week, two overcrowded
boats capsized off the coast of Libya, south of the Italian island of Lampedusa,
resulting in the death of an estimated 1,200 migrants, a sheer majority of them
Africans.
Witnessing those disasters through the media was a catalyst for Daniel Castro
Garcia: 3 weeks later, the British photographer and his partner and designer
Thomas Saxby (Both born in Oxford in 1985 and professionally known as John
Radcliffe Studio) were travelling to Lampedusa with the aim of documenting the
situation.
They both had been following the coverage of the migrant crisis through the
British press as it unfolded, long before those incidents occurred. How they
visually portrayed the migrants, their sensationalist discourse and the
vocabulary they used caused them a deep sense of shame and distress.
The sensationalist British media coverage of the migrant crisis and the rise of
nationalism across Europe drove him to try to present an alternative view of the
foreigner
Because of his familiar circumstanceshis parents emigrated from Galicia to
the UK for economic reasons in the 1960s, long before he was born Castro
Garcia is especially sensitive towards migration issues.
And though he identifies himself as Galician rather than British or Spanish, he
is deeply concerned by the rise of extreme nationalism and separatist
movements across Europe, a political phenomenon that has acted as an incentive
to carry on with the project as they moved on.
That first trip to Lampedusa was the seed of a much larger project, which has
materialized (so far) in Foreigner: Migration Into Europe 2015-2016, a
photography book that has recently been awarded with the renowned British
Journal of Photographys International Photography Award. It was also
shortlisted in the First Book Award category for both the distinguished Mack
Books and Paris Photo-Aperture Foundations annual contests. Since that first
trip, he, either accompanied by Saxby, who designed the book, or by his
producer Jade Morris, visited almost all of the crisis hot-spots, only excluding
Hungary, Scandinavia and Turkey.
Tell us about the purpose of the project and your way of working.
I think that the imagery produced by the mainstream media around this story
has been quite voyeuristic. For me, photography represents the opportunity of
meeting people, getting to know them face to face and sharing something with
the subject. In fact, I believe that portraits are a collaboration. If the subject
doesnt do his utmost, the resulting photograph lacks that magic component that
makes a picture stand out. Besides, I believe that portraits add much more value
to the individual stories of these people. Newspapers can offer data, statistics,
quotations but often lack empathy. Our way of working intends to bring a bit of
calm. Actually, most of the time, my camera was in my bag. Its almost as its not
about photography, its about presenting a work that reflects on how we interact
with the situation, to serve an alternative view to visually represent these people
in another, more dignified way and to dignify photography too! My photographic
heroes work with a strong concept of dignity. Its easier to get that dramatic
picture of the overcrowded boats arriving at the shore, the migrants fighting
with the police or being tear-gassed Its much more difficult to try to force
the public to rethink their preconceptions and to understand the state of
affairs less superficially.
I havent seen the book physically since it sold out rapidly, but Ive seen
the pictures and I believe this approach, this calm and dignity you talk
about, are reflected on them, one can feel it.
I have to admit that sometimes, especially in the Greek island of Lesbos, where
there was such a big crowd of journalists and photographers, I would lose
control. I was kind of carried away by the whole chaotic situation, and I found
myself acting as if I should get that World Press photo, you know. Nonetheless,
I think the images which are the only ones printed in black and white in the
book and that were shot with a digital camera are pretty good, but have
nothing to do with our original approach.
Its easier to get that dramatic picture of the overcrowded boats arriving at
the shore. Its much more difficult to try to force the public to rethink their
preconceptions

Lesbos, Greece, November 2015. All pictures Daniel Castro Garcia, courtesy
of John Radcliffe Studios.
You could have just excluded them from the book, but you didnt, which is
honest of you.
I think this is an essential chapter in the book, since it offers my personal
reaction to what I was witnessing. I dont know if its auto-critique, or a way to
give the reader the opportunity to contrast them with the rest of the pictures
in the book. Yes, I could have suppressed them, but I think it was important. You
know, we are saturated with digital images: Instagram, Facebook anyone is
capable of taking good pictures. Maybe its like a little commentary about this
saturation paradigm also.
I think the book has succeeded because the project means something also for
the people portrayed; I mean Im grateful for the recognition, but its for them
that weve done it.
You wanted to get the book published before the Brexit vote. Why?
Yes, but we were aware that our influence would be pretty close to zero.
Nevertheless, the book (later) has gone much further from what we could have
imagined. The impact on the media has been amazing, a lot of publications which
Im a fan of featured it, and then the prizes, Paris Photoetc. You see that your
work is being accepted on a level you could have hardly imagined.
Since April 2015, Ive been working on this project 7 days a week, full time, and
Im not overstating it. It has changed my life. Ive sacrificed the work in my
industry (he used to work in the cinema industry as assistant director) and Im
almost penniless right now.
I think the book has succeeded because the project means something also for
the people portrayed; I talk with some of them regularly, on a daily basis with 3
of them. Weve sent part of the money of the prize to some of them who are
stranded in Sicily for 3 years now, who cannot work and have no cash, so they
cant pay the rent, send money to their families, or whatever they need. The
book doesnt even have our name on it, only the studios name I mean Im
grateful for the recognition, but its for them that weve done it, to represent
them in a more dignified way.
123
Aly Gadiaga, Catania, Sicily, Italy, 2015. All pictures Daniel Castro Garcia,
courtesy of John Radcliffe Studios.
Do you think photography should provoke a change on a situation or conflict
you can eventually judge as unfair, like the one were dealing with here; or
do you rather believe it should just limit itself to describe, and in the best
scenario, help us understand it and the people involved?
For me photography can rarely be objective. The camera has its limitations. No
one except the photographer knows whats left outside the frame, and
therefore the concept of truth is compromised. Despite this, I also think that
photography has a brutal power for moving the publicthe Aylan Kurdi image as
an example. Nowadays, though, amid this visual saturation in which we live,
images increasingly struggle to do so. The public gets tired quickly.
As part of the BJPs prize, you get a solo show at Londons TJ Boulting
gallery, but this doesnt mean the project is finished yet. What do you have
in mind for its second stage?
Well, first of all, were currently struggling with the funding. The amount of the
prize goes directly to finance the exhibition, which I think gives us the
opportunity to present our arguments in a different format and means a step
forward for the project.
So were exploring ways to raise more money. Even so, weve already gone to
Lampedusa, Sicily, Rome and Marsella to record some footage that will be
included in the exposition. I am editing two short video films, which is really
where my audiovisual roots come from.
Later, the idea is to go back to Sicily. I have been granted full access to an
unaccompanied minors centre, where there are 15 sub-saharan boys, from 13 to
17 years old. So my plan is to stay there for a long time. If the scope of the
first stage of the project has been macro, in terms that it has covered the
crisis in almost all of its entire geographical extension, this would be much more
micro, much more focused. I would like to consider the position of these children
in all this conflict. What are they doing there, without having anything to do?
Which opportunities are they being offered, which risks are they facing? How is
the system that is taking care of them?
I would also like to keep working with Ali, a guy which I have known since I Peri
NTera, who is almost like part of my family now, so it starts to become a very
long term project. I think that both me and Thomas want to dedicate ourselves
to this at least for the next 5 years, or more! It would be incredible to be able
to look back and review a really large work on this issue.
Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015-2016 is published by Mack Books.