Stefano Stranges
Homeland – Ongoing project – 2012/2020
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Man transforms every single corner into a home. In this physical and relational space, humans don’t only survive but also live. Home is the habitat in which man repairs, takes shelter, meets others and shares feelings and daily life. The concept of home is one of an intertwined community, one of illuminating one another. “Home” is every inhabited and co inhabited space. For this reason, man is able to build his own nest even without the presence of walls, doors and windows.Homeland is a study into how a train crosses different regions of the world and explores the physical and emotional re-construction an abode from two platforms, regardless of cultural uprooting and the possible material difficulties of its inhabitants. Each part of the project is born living among them as a guest in each “home” in order to report through his photos, both the living and emotional conditions. Within the walls of grave discomfort and the treacherous contained spaces, they also live the planning, the hope, the joy, the sharing, the sense of family and belonging to a community.This social research aims to show how man is able to not only lay roots in the driest part of the desert, but also to make shade.
L’uomo trasforma ogni luogo in una casa. In questo spazio fisico e relazionale l’essere umano non solo sopravvive, ma soprattutto vive. Casa è l’habitat in cui l’uomo si ripara, si rifugia, si incontra con altri uomini e condivide con questi sentimenti e quotidianità. Il concetto di casa e quello di comunità si intrecciano, illuminandosi a vicenda. “Casa” è ogni spazio abitato e coabitato. Per questo gli uomini riescono a costruire il proprio nido anche in mancanza di pareti, porte e finestre. Homeland è una ricerca che come un treno attraversa diverse regioni del mondo ed esplora su un doppio binario il processo di ri-costruzione fisica e emotiva di una dimora, nonostante gli sradicamenti culturali e le difficoltà materiali di coloro che le abitano. Ogni parte del progetto nasce vivendo in ogni luogo come ospite, per poterne riportare, tramite le fotografie, condizioni di vita materiali e affettive, emotive quindi relazionali. Fra le mura di gravi disagi e nello spazio circoscritto da condizioni abitative apparentemente proibitive, dimorano con questi uomini anche la progettualità, la speranza, la gioia, la condivisione, il senso della famiglia e di appartenenza a una comunità. Questa ricerca sociale ambisce a dimostrare come gli uomini siano in grado non solo di mettere radici nel più arido dei deserti, ma anche di fare ombra.
Kutupalong Refugees Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Here thousands of muslim refugees, fleeing from the buddhist extremism, are seeking refugee. They are the Rohingya people from the north of Myanmar. 2013.
A young Rohingya muslim refugee in the little classroom inside the Kutupalong refugee Camp. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. 2013.
Baby prostitute inside the Kutupalong refugees camp. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. 2013
Rohingya muslim woman inside the Kutupalong refugees camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. 2013
The hole in a tent as a window. Young syrian refugee in Kilis, Turkey border Syria. 2013
Inside their tent. Refugees in Bab al Salam refugees camp. Azaz, Syria. 2013
Surviving. Huritan, Aleppo, Syria, 2013
Despite the bombs. Majad and his family at home. Huritan, Aleppo, Syria 2013.
Outside Majad’s home, Huritan, Aleppo, Syria 2013.
Playing in a safe harbor. A syrian baby refugee hosted inside the “Mediterranean Hope, Casa delle Culture”. Scicli, Sicily 2018.
Muslim refugee is praying in front of his bed, in “Aisha – La casa della vita”, Modica, Sicily. 2018
Christian refugee from Nigeria inside his room in ”Aisha – La casa della vita”, Modica, Sicily. 2018
A Greek Ortodox Priest in front a tent in Maidan Square, Kiev, under the end of the revolution days. Ukraine, 2014.
Inside the tent of the revolution, in Maidan Square, Kiev, Ukraine 2014.
The Tamil Land. North Sri Lanka.Crossing the north east of the land on the road to Mullaitivu, several families are still living inside the rests of their houses destroyed during the war against the Sinhalese army, without any helps from the central government. Over here, it is easy to see what is left from the civil war, as well as the military areas occupied by the Sinhalese Army.
Veerapuram village, Mannar district, north west Sri Lanka. In the Tamil land Several families are still living in areas assigned them at the wartime, sort of camps in their own town. 2015
Veerapuram village, Mannar district, north west Sri Lanka. 2015
Rasheed shows me his house made of skeletons of old fridges, In Sodom and Gomorrah, one of the biggest E-Waste in the world. Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. 2017
Two guys of the community in Sodom and Gomorrah inside their house made of the skeleton of old fridges. The rooftop is part of an old schoolbus. -Understanding the times- Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. 2017
Rasheeda behind the roof of one of the house that hosted some guys of community till a few hours before, till it was demolited by some staff of the government. -Understanding the times- Like a warning, here, in Sodom and Gomorrah. Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. 2017
Fiifi is bathing before go to sleep, inside the E-waste of Sodom and Gomorrah. Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. 2017
Elisabeth and Bussain, refugees from Burundi. They are waiting in their emergency shelter up until the permanent shelter is completed, whose construction is being managed by Terre des Hommes NGO. In Tongogara Refugees Camp, Zimbabwe. 2019.
Jennifer and her husband, refugees in Tongogara Camp, Zimbabwe, from DR Congo. They are using own initiative to build their house brick by brick because they did’nt want to wait for the normal process of going through the waiting list. She is one of many more refugees who take own initiative to restore their livelihoods but she don’t forget “Bukavu is my homeland”, said Jennifer. 2019.
Mrs Asumani, refugee from DRCongo, with her family in Tongogara Refugees Camp, Zimbabwe. 2019
Juliette (fantasy name), refugee from DR Congo, in Tongogara Refugees Camp. They are rearing pigeons for food. She was raped by Maji Maji group because her husband had escaped from their prison where he was held captive. They travelled by boat to Nyulungu, then Zambia and finally Zimbabwe.Now Juliette is an activist and a foster parent to help unaccompained and separate children. She’s also a member of the Child Protection Committee in the camp.
Inside the traditional house of a family whose grandchild is under the sponsorship program called SAD (Sostegno a dostanza) by Terre des Hommes NGO Italy. Due to the long dry season the family failed to harvest enough cereals so they are receiving 50 kg of maize from government’s drought relief program called “vulmerable group feeding”. Marandra rural area, South east Zimbabwe. 2019
The classroom under the tree. Marandra rural area, South east Zimbabwe. 2019
The new born inside a little improvised hospital in a private house in Goma suburb area. North Kivu, DR Congo. 2016
The small cinema of the village. Masisi Area. This is one of the richest land of Africa and at the same time full of conflicts, due to the mineral interests. North Kivu, DR Congo. 2016
Sign of life in a rooftop, in Adam Jee Pakistani camp, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2012
New born in a nest of Bihari Pakistani Camp, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2013Dhaka, the polluted and large capital of Bangladesh. The characteristics of Bangladesh are starkly similar to those of the neighboring region. Extreme poverty, slums near the railways, thickly populous and severely polluted regions near the delta and extreme political corruption and unemployment are the connecting threads. Political instability in these areas is often marred by social tensions and extremist groups causing a constant upheaval in the common man’s life. In the most troubled times the real facet of mankind emerges. Here, the humanity of people is accentuated with their difficulties of survival. In contrast to the toxic air you breathe here, you stumble upon hospitality in its purest form.
In the old part of the city. Raja and his family. Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2012
Workers in the Sadar Ghat shipyard, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2012Young worker in the Sadar Ghat shipyard, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2012.
Babu with his family in the little house in Kassam Nagar Slum. Mumbai, India. 2012.
Mumbai is a megalopolis where modern residential areas share borders with the slums and shantytowns where the majority of laborers of local industries reside. The slums are born out of the city as sleeping places for workers who flock there from surrounding rural areas in search of fortune. From the earliest shacks around the luxurious buildings under construction, a real inhabited nucleus is formed that feeds on the settlement of entire generations.
A woman giving love to her son in his nest without wall on the road near the Andheri west Train station. Mumbai, India. 2012
Baba and his sons inside his plastic tent in Varsova slum. This slum is on the beach area, so during the monsoons they lives on the water. Mumbai, India 2012.
Kanta’s home in Colaba slum. To the window. Mumbai, India. 2012
Kanta’s home in Colaba slum. Details of the kitchen. Mumbai, India. 2012
Bringing ice for the son’s birthday party. In a slum of Mumbai, India. 2012
Morning bath in Ganga River . Calcutta, India. 2012
