test
No Supported Files in Gallery
2018 highlights
Pushed by several humanitarian crisis and a worsening situation in lawless Libya, the exodus towards Europe through the Mediterranean route continues during the cold winter months
Left: 1967, Right: 2018.
An aerial view of Kathmandu from Swayambhu temple.
Album | Before/After Kathmandu |
Left: 1975, Right: 2018.
Kathmandu, along Kanti Path avenue.
Album | Before/After Kathmandu |
Left: 1975, Right: 2018.
A view of the Bir Hospital building.
Album | Before/After Kathmandu |
Left: 1965, Right: 2018.
New Road Gate in Kathmandu.
Album | Before/After Kathmandu |
Left: 1974, Right: 2018.
Along New Road in Kathmandu.
Album | Before/After Kathmandu |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 21st 2018. An aerial view of Kathmandu from Swayambhu temple, compared with the exact same view on an archive photo from 1967 (courtesy of PC Nepal Photo Project / Nepal Picture Library).
Green spaces have been urbanized, and mountains are no longer visible due to the smog covering the city.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 12th 2018. An informal bus stop in one of the busiest areas of Kathmandu, Chabahil.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 12th 2018. Heavy traffic at the Koteshwor junction, one of the main crossroads of Kathmandu. In the background, an airplane prepares for landing at the nearby international airport.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. Wearing a mask to prevent his nose and mouth to breathe polluted air, Narayan Dahal (63) poses for a portrait in the busy Kalanki area of Kathmandu.
“I have a health problem caused by the pollution. My nose is dry, I suffer from headaches and my lungs are not well. So I am using a mask to protect myself from dust.” Says Mr. Dahal.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 8th 2018. Heavy traffic on Kanti Path, one of the main avenues of Kathmandu.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 18th 2018. Inside a local bus providing service in the metropolitan area of Kathmandu.
Costing as little as 10-20 US$ cents, public and informal mass transportation in Kathmandu is as affordable in price as very inefficient and unreliable in terms of coverage and punctuality.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. Using a scarf to prevent her nose and mouth to breathe polluted air, Sunita Tamang (35) poses for a portrait while attending a shop in the busy Kalanki area of Kathmandu.
“The air quality here is not good. I’ve been in this shop for two years now, and my health is suffering: I’m constantly getting colds and sore throat. And who knows what problems I’ll suffer in the future.”, says Ms. Tamang.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Patan, greater Kathmandu (Nepal), October 1st 2018. A pedestrian and a traffic policeman in the middle of a busy avenue in the metropolitan area of Kathmandu.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. People walking through one of the busiest crossing in Kathmandu, in the Kalanki area. Dust and smoke are clearly visible in the air, and most of the people are covering their mouth with masks or scarfs.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 7th 2018. A courtyard in the centre of Kathmandu, surrounded by tall buildings and filled by motorbikes.
The fast urbanization process undergone in Kathmandu in the last 5 decades has eaten up free spaces in the city and the surrounding valley.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. Wearing a mask to prevent his nose and mouth to breath polluted air, the Buddhist monk Pasang Thunglu (29) poses for a portrait in the busy Kalanki area of Kathmandu.
“When I used to come to Kathmandu as a kid, the air quality was not bad. But when I came back after a long time, in 2015, the air was unbreathable, very dusty. The earthquake made things worse, because now there are lots of construction sites in town, which are also creating a lot of dust.”, says Mr. Thunglu.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 8th 2018. A horse belonging to the metropolitan traffic police of Kathmandu surrounded by heavy traffic on Kanti Path, one of the busiest traffic avenues in Nepal’s capital city.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 24th 2018. A young boy selling cotton candy sits surrounded by heavy traffic at one of the busiest crossings in Kathmandu: Koteshwor. In the background, an aircraft prepares for landing at the nearby international airport.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. Using a scarf to prevent her nose and mouth to breath polluted air, Shamiskha Karki (18) poses for a portrait inside her family’ shop in the busy Kalanki area of Kathmandu.
“Not protecting your lungs is dangerous here. If we don’t do that, in one or two years we will get sick. After the [2015] earthquake things got worse due to the dust provoked by the reconstruction works”, says Ms. Karki.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Patan, greater Kathmandu (Nepal), October 1st 2018. A cow at the edge of a busy avenue in the metropolitan area of Kathmandu.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. One of the main highways connecting Kathmandu to the rest of Nepal at Kalanki junction. The road dust, caused by the vehicles as a result of the poor road conditions, is clearly visible along the highway path.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 24th 2018. Wearing a mask to prevent her nose and mouth to breath polluted air, Sarswati Karki (41) poses for a portrait in the busy Koteshwor area of Kathmandu.
“I’m wearing a mask to protect me from dust and potential infections. I’m already suffering from frequent colds, my eyes burn and I’m afraid of getting lung diseases in the future.”, says Ms. Karki.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
A photograph of a pollution mask used in Kathmandu (Nepal) during two days in October 2018. The dirt caused by dust and smoke is clearly visible in the upper-left part of the mask.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Patan, greater Kathmandu (Nepal), October 5th 2018. In a craftsman’ showroom, the face of Goddess Tara’ statue is wrapped with newspapers to prevent dust from ruining the freshly painted details.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Kathmandu (Nepal), October 14th 2018. An aerial view of Kathmandu from Swayambhu temple. The smog covering the city is clearly visible.
Album | Out of Thin Air |
Life goes on: an asylum seeker who is pregnant, is waiting for her case to be processed so she can move on from the camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy) where she is currently hosted. Here portrayed at the entrance of her tent.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
The Italian Red Cross ‘Fenoglio’ camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy) seen from above.
Initially meant as a temporary camp for asylum seekers waiting to be quickly redirected to more permanent accommodations, it has become a semi-permanent accommodation where asylum seekers stay for months due to the lack of other accommodations in the area.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Honest (39, from Nigeria), here portrayed in his room in a reception centre in Bergamo (Italy), was rescued with more than other hundred migrants on a dinghy adrift in the Mediterranean sea.
“I could not se outside [the dinghy] but only up because I was lying on the floor. I was praying, crying, shouting… ‘Jeeesus’! I was not myself, I was just in spirit…
When my head calmed down [after the rescue] I looked at the sea around me and at my boat, now empty… in that moment I started crying… from that moment I believe in God!”
Album | Life after Hell Album |
A woman washes her clothes in the camp where she is hosted in Settimo Torinese (Italy). This Red Cross camp, built with tents from the Italian Civil protection can host, depending on the situation, up to 500-600 people.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Alhagie (44, from Gambia) portrayed in his room at a reception centre in Messina (Italy). A former Gambian soldier, Alhagie left his country in early 2016 and reached Italy after leaving Libya on a dinghy.
“I think a lot about my family, that’s my main concern. I left a wife and four kids in Gambia and it is almost three weeks that I’m not able to speak to them”.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Italian language lesson in a reception camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy).
Language courses, together with food, accommodation and a small amount of pocket money are the basic commodities granted to asylum seekers in Italy, while they wait for as long as 2 years for their cases to be processed.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Prince (33, from Nigeria), portrayed in a reception centre for asylum seekers in Bergamo (Italy).
He fled his country to find a cure for a chest problem, and he is now undergoing a treatment in Italy. He reached Italy after having been rescued from a dinghy adrift in the Mediterranean sea. He quickly became very popular in the reception centre, as he decided to open his own bike repair workshop in the centre’s premises.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Daily activities in a reception centre in the Bergamo province (Italy).
Hosted in Vedeseta, a mountain village with a population of 215 people, this centre hosts around 35 asylum seekers who are self-managing all the basic activities of the centre: cooking, cleaning, gardening, etc.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Joy (18, from Nigeria) portrayed in a reception centre in Messina (Italy).
She lost a close friend at sea, while attempting to reach Italy on boat an inflatable dinghy with other 190 people. After drifting for 18 hours somewhere in the Mediterranean, her friend was one of the 25 people who tragically drowned in the melee when a rescue boat was sighted.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
In a Catholic church in Bergamo (Italy), an asylum seeker hosted in a nearby reception centre takes a photograph.
The disposable camera he is using has been provided by local photography students who are teaching a workshop in photography in the centre as part of their final school work.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Mohammed (21, Gambia), at work at ‘Settimo Miglio’ organic farm in Settimo Torinese (Italy).
The farm employs asylum seekers and refugees hosted at the local reception camp. Mohammed has worked on the farm for five months as an intern – earning around 600 Euro a month. He is hoping that his internship will lead to full employment.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Moses (37, from Ghana) photographed in a reception centre in Messina (Italy). The scar in his face dates back to the 2 years he spent in Libya.
“They tied me after I tried to escape [from a smugglers detention centre], and they hung me up so that my legs were not reaching the ground. Then they mercilessly beat me with pipes. […]
They starve you, they attack you for so many days, so that you’ll be willing to pay a ransom for you release. Or else if they get any of their partners who is willing to buy, they sell! they sell human beings there!”.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Two asylum seekers observe the surroundings from the terrace of the local reception centre where they are hosted in Vedeseta, a mountain village in the Bergamo area (Italy).
During the 2-year wait for their international protection applications to be processed, asylum seekers in Italy are distributed according to the places available in numerous reception centres nationwide.
Those centres can be as small as the one in Vedeseta (35 guests) or huge as the one in Mineo (Sicily) that hosts up to 4,000 asylum seekers.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Mercy (30, Nigeria) in a temporary house for asylum seekers in Bergamo (Italy).
Living in this apartment with her husband Abdulai and the newly born daughter Fareeda, Mercy fled her hometown in Nigeria after her house was set on fire by enemies of her family.
On her right arm are still visible the severe burns provoked by the fire.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Asylum seekers play soccer in a reception camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy).
The vast majority of asylum seekers in Italy are male (89%), since the journey from the country of origin and through Libya is by many considered too dangerous for women.
As highlighted by a 2017 report from Amnesty international “refugees and migrants are routinely exposed in Libya […] to grave human rights violations and abuses including killings, torture, rape, kidnappings, forced labour, and arbitrary detention in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions.”
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Khurram Shahzad (33, from Pakistan) portrayed in a temporary house for asylum seekers in Modena (Italy).
A homeopathic doctor back in Pakistan, now he is employed as a seasonal worker in a factory in Modena. “I’m married and I have 2 child, 7 and 6 years old. I’d like to bring them here if my asylum request is accepted”
Album | Life after Hell Album |
An asylum seeker on his phone in a reception centre in Bergamo (Italy).
Andrea Ostinelli, a social worker in the same centre says: “Having to wait as long as 2 years, I think the reason why many guys spend their days sleeping or on their phone watching music videos is the lack of personal fulfilment. You see many of them here and you can tell that their strength is missing. They miss… they are powerless. It is a pity to see people reduced to this… I think they are not fulfilled as human beings. They are not human beings here.”
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Fosiyo (37, from Somalia) poses for a portrait in a temporary house for refugees in Modena (Italy).
She spent several months in an Egyptian prison after being caught at sea on her first attempt to reach Italy by boat. After being released, on her second attempt at sea she managed to reach Italy on August 2016 after sailing for 16 days on board a boat with other 340 migrants.
The Mediterranean is the most lethal migration scenario in the world: more than 15,000 deaths between January 2014 and October 2017 (source: IOM), an average of 10 people a day.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
A young asylum seekers hosted in a reception centre in Formigine, near Modena (Italy), during his workout session in a nearby park.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
An asylum seeker lying on his bunk bed in a reception centre in Bergamo (Italy).
Of the over 500,000 migrants who reached Italy embarking from Libya since 2014, around 270,000 thousands filed an asylum request, and as of the end of 2016 around 100,000 are waiting for a decision on their status. This volume of requests, combined with the endemic slowness of the Italian judicial system, has prolonged the waiting time to roughly 2 years.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Abass (28, Togo), portrayed in a reception centre in Bergamo (Italy) out in the patio (left) and in his room (right).
He tells that he fled his country due to political unrest that led to a violent strike in his university. In Libya he was held in a house in Saba with other migrants. There they were working without being paid and were given very scarce food.
“We, the blacks, have become like slaves in Libya”, he added.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Asylum seekers during the Muslim afternoon prayer in a reception centre in Vedeseta, in the Bergamo province (Italy).
Formerly a mountain residence for Catholic nuns, the house hosting them has been converted to reception centre only in recently.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
Yakaub (23, from Mali) and his wife Fatima (20, also from Mali) portrayed inside their tent in a reception camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy).
With their first child expected in a couple of months and their asylum request still to be processed, they hope the Italian authorities will be able to provide them with a more appropriate accommodation soon.
Album | Life after Hell Album |
With more than 35 millions inhabitants and a 1.9 trillion US$ GDP, Tokyo is the world’s most populous metropolitan area and largest urban economy. In its crowded streets and through its massive transportation system, a multitude of employees in dark suits commutes between the city’s suburban areas and business districts. Silent, discreet and with a strong work ethic instilled since childhood, the office workers are best known in Japan as “salarymen”. Thanks to their strict discipline and long working hours they have become one of the pillars of the country’s economy. They are Japan’s quiet army.
A salaryman reads a manga magazine during his commute on a subway train bound for central Tokyo.
Oct 27th 2017. Reactions in the streets of Barcelona, as the Catalan parliament declares Catalonia an independent republic.
Barcelona, Oct 2nd. Students and other parts of the Catalan civil society participate in a rally to condemn the violence and brutality used by the Spanish police to repress the independence referendum that took place the day before.
The Italian Red Cross ‘Fenoglio’ camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy) seen from above.
Initially meant as a temporary camp for asylum seekers waiting to be quickly redirected to more permanent accommodations, it has become a semi-permanent accommodation where asylum seekers stay for months due to the lack of other accommodations in the area.
La vita continua: Fatima (20),una richiedente asilo incinta proveniente dal Mali, attende di ottenere risposta alla sua domanda d’asilo per poter lasciare il campo di accoglienza di Settimo Torinese. Nella foto è ritratta all’ingresso della sua tenda.
Alcuni richiedenti asilo durante la preghiera mussulmana del pomeriggio in un centro di accoglienza a Vedeseta, in provincia di Bergamo.
Precedentemente usato come residenza montana da una congregazione di suore, la casa che li accoglie è stata convertita in centro per richiedenti asilo solo recentemente.
February 22nd 2017, 1PM. A rubber boat in distress is spotted a few miles off the coast of Libya.
Album | 2018 highlights |
On February 23rd 2017, at sunrise, a young migrant rescued from a rubber boat in distress observes the sea from the Aquarius.
A group of migrants, mainly from Nigeria and Ghana, rescued from a rubber boat in distress on February 22nd 2017, photographed on board the Aquarius.
Album | 2018 highlights |
Life goes on: Fatima (20), an asylum seeker from Mali who is pregnant, is waiting for her case to be processed so she can move on from the camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy) where she is currently hosted.
Honest (39, Nigeria), here portrayed in his room in a reception centre in Bergamo (Italy), was rescued with more than other hundred migrants on a dinghy adrift in the Mediterranean sea.
I could not se outside [the dinghy] but only up because I was lying on the floor. I was praying, crying, shouting… ‘Jeeesus’! I was not myself, I was just in spirit…
“When my head calmed down [after the rescue] I looked at the sea around me and at my boat, now empty… in that moment I started crying… from that moment I believe in God!”
The Italian Red Cross ‘Fenoglio’ camp in Settimo Torinese (Italy) seen from above.
Initially meant as a temporary camp for asylum seekers waiting to be quickly redirected to more permanent accommodations, it has become a semi-permanent accommodation where asylum seekers stay for months due to the lack of other accommodations in the area.