Bangladesh: a brothel in Jessore.

I visited Jessore brothel and met with the prostitutes as part of my work on the “Star” project. Star is a methodology which looks at bringing together groups of people, to discuss issues of concern and mobilize around these. Whilst doing so – participants are also informed about HIV and Sexual health related issues. My work was to check how this methodology is implemented – to learn how to better use it around the work. I also was checking that the issues on which ActionAid campaigns, advocate and lobby at the national and international level are really the issues of concern for the people we work with. In other words: are we speaking about the concerns of the poorest and more marginalised people, or are we making up the agenda?

So I could spend a few hours with the prostitutes, discussing what issues had emerged. Issues include marginalization – until recently prostitutes could not even go out of the brothels;access to sexual care; linkages with national organization of sex workers; child care and education –as prostitutes live in the brothel with babies; support in saving and investing the money. Other issues of concern, like the relationship with the police, could obviously not being discussed, as the police itself was heavily guarding the meeting.

The brothel is a town within the town. You get in through small alleys, barely screened by some curtains. The little roads inside have little shops of shampoo and basic things, and from there you access to multi-storey buildings, where the prostitutes live and work. Each of them rent her room and pays by the day. There is hardly any space to cook, cooking happens on the long corridors / balconies which connect the rooms. A few children play around, and then there are the Babus, the protectors of the prostitutes, which also share the space. They often are the male children of the prostitute, that grow up to protect their mothers and family. It is chaos, a crammed humanity.

From the picture point of view it was of course a tantalising experience. In the brothel, with full access, a trusted presence - thanks to the good work of my colleagues in working with the prostitutes…. But next to zero time to take pictures. Being the foreigner guest, the centre of interest also does not help. I was either discussing with the prostitutes, so my full attention had to go to them… or walking across the buildings, always talking to people, crossing from one space to the other quickly, and hit by so many things and feelings… I could not really take time off to take pictures, only did a few, which of course are just a few snapshot but really do not tell much of a story or capture the sense of place. So, photographically I came out of the brothel with a sense of “I wish I could”. On one side I definitely need to learn how to make better use of the zero time that I have, to really get a quick eye to spot the right things to record and a sense of how to do it successfully despite the crowd. But on the other hand I will have to find way to simply have a little bit more time in my hands when I visit such places.

The pics below are a few snapshot of a little show put on by children in a centre run by Shapla Mothla, the partner organization of ActionAid. The children are sons and daughters of prostitutes, you saw some of their mothers in the pictures above. Children still get too see their mother, but – unlikely many of the other prostitute children, can live outside of the brothel. They shall have a chance to escape the destiny of the many children trapped in the brothels: becoming a prostitute or a Babu.

Bangladesh: on the ferry to Faridpur

Wherever you go in Bangladesh, sooner or later you will be on a ferry. These are a few pics of the journey, focusing on the passengers, the sellers, the beggars.

The Vatican Borders

The "pub discussion" last monday pushed me to do a little more work on borders.
I started to study the borders of the Vatican, by walking around.
It is quite handy to be able to circumnavigate a whole state in less than two hours... including the time to take pics! It is defnitely an interesting subject, which will deserve many more visits and much more time (shame that I am just moving house on the other side of Roma!!!):

1) there are borders that are routinely crossed by tourists (St peter Square, the Vatican Museum), therefore with very permeable "gates", crossed by people of all sort - with very long queues at times).

2) there are borders that are guarded, and open only for those who have permissions. These are the borders to the non-touristy parts of the State of the Vatican, mostly crossed by expensive cars, nuns and priests. And of course the Swiss Guards add interest to these borders.

3) there are long stretches of wall, with no openings, guarded by cameras. Nice houses on the "Italian side", and the Vatican Gardens above.

4) there are spaces by the walls used as parking lots, small gardens, dog areas

5) there are closed gates (with concrete slabs!)

6) there is even a train gate, a very large metal door. I wonder if they open and use it often

7) there are metal detectors in St peter Square, which make the colonnade look relly like a border (it used to be much more open before, but now, as everywhere else, they added lot of security)

And of course there are many different characters hanging around: the informal sellers of bags and glasses scattered all along the tourist areas... thousands of tourists ... nuns and priests... Swiss Guards... italian policemen... residents of the nice neighbourhoods adjacent the walls... and the pope of course.

Definitely lots of potential there. I guess I will have to explore the action happening in different places around the borders. Maybe I should try different styles to suit the different characters of the wall? And of course I better revise some history and urban planning books.

The slideshow contains all the zillions pics I took today, to give an idea of the borders. The strategy was to walk around and gain a sense of the borders. The pics are a bit souless as I did not spend much time to look at interesting actions and relationships. I guess I will have to shortlist some interesting spots and spend more time hanging around these.

Long essay: the electoral campaign of Roberto Tavani

Roberto Tavani, former Environment and Sport councillor, run for re-election at “Municipio XVII” in Roma. His electoral campaign reflected his style: he is committed to bridge the gap in between politics and citizens. He quoted as a mantra the “politica della fontanella” (waterfountain politics, as definied by the leader of the Democratic party Walter Veltroni) which is about a governance style looking at the big ideas without loosing sight of the basic needs of people.

In a Rome full of electoral posters and of all sort of wasteful electoral advertisement, the electoral campaign of Roberto was quite an odd one. No posters, no cars with ads, no tv ads, no big events and a very little money invested. According to him it is a crime to litter Rome, and election time is no excuse to waste so much money. So he printed only a few leaflets (with a “please recycle” logo at the back), and did a lot of walking : “Will you vote in Municipio XVII? If so, I would like to give you a leaflet and introduce myself… “.. and started chatting. Most of his campaign was done on the road, talking to people in the streets, in bars, in shops. He also participated to few events, organized by friends or by himself (e.g. aperitifs, opening of art exhibitions, pub evenings, a theatre show with a comedian…). But he stayed away from big events, from the gazebos of the Democratic party, which were popping everywhere in the neighbourhood. The essence was walking walking walking, with his assistant Lorenza and always in his clark shoes, green coat and cigarettes, the uniform of vintage left wing politicians. He walked mainly in the areas where he had something to show of his previous work (playgrounds, dog areas, pruned trees…) and where he certainly had lots of acquaintances: he remembered the names of an incredible number of people… He walked in the areas more prone to vote to the left: the northern area around Piazza Mazzini rather than the elegant and posh streets of Prati. And, on top of all this walking, he did a lot of talking on the mobile phone.. and a blog, with a small video for You Tube.

The outcome of his approach was a surprising one. The democratic party won the election in the Municipio (quite an achievement in a country where the right got it all this time), and he had the most votes, more then double of the second one. Definitely, at least at the Municipio scale, there are still many people who believe in the having a personal relationship with the candidates they vote for, rather than looking at his face on a poster or on tv I guess it is good news.

Short story 2: election garbage

When it is election time in Roma it is impossible not to notice it. Electoral posters have the lion share. The appear everywhere, on authorized boards or…. well, just wherever there is some space. One over the other, and sometimes it is a question of hours, if not minutes before another layer is added. Often the boards collapse under the weight of so much paper. Speed and volume are the essence to control critical areas, such as Piazzale degli Eroi (quite a depressing space but where there is a lot of car traffic)… Efficiency is increased by inventions such “il rullo” (the roll) which apparently only two companies in the area really master.

Interestingly the main culprits of the illegal posting seem to be the candidates of the parties who defend “legality” at all costs, right and extreme right… Many of such candidates do not mind show their face on garbage containers. Other prefer sign posts, phone boxes. Windscreens are also a favourite. And of course, at the end of the day, it is garbage in, and garbage out. Leftovers of the campaign litter the roads of Roma.

Notes on this essay:

1) As with the previous one, this is also an essay describing an environment. I tried to capture - as much as I could people posting posters or distributing leaflets, to have some action. It was not always easy, as some of them are doing this illegally and were not happy to be photographed. The legal workers were happy to discuss their techniques, and, if I had the time, I would have liked to spend some time following one of them in action across the neighbourhood.

2) The interest to look at “election garbage” is also due to the desire to contrast it with the “no posters / no frills” campaign lead by Roberto Tavani. I quite liked the fact that he was the only candidate with a “recycle” sign on if leaflets… and that he hardly ever wasted leaflets. He preferred to hand them in to people he was talking to rather than just distributing them in post boxes.

3) It is fun to look at the message of the posters juxtaposed to the surrounding area. The message “stand up again, Italy” by a bench… the poster of a candidate by a washing powder claiming a supernatural force… I did not play much this game also because this is the traditional newspaper feature: “send up some fun contrast…” . In some cases I had been waiting for by passers, to create relationship with the picture in the poster and the voter. But I did not manage to get much interesting stuff.

4) The slideshow contains the pictures I selected on this "theme". I have tried to get some substories out of it. one is about "car leaflets", another one about "electoral posters", one for gazebos... For each of them I tried to put some action and some "results". But most pictures would work well individually as part of a theme but not much in a story..

Short Story 1: Election Day

13 and 14th April: election day in Italy. In Roma the turnout is less than national average, but still high, 73%. Maybe this is because election in Roma are hard work: on top of Senate and Camera (the lower house), the Romani have to vote for the provincial and town elections. Poll stations are hosted in schools This set of pictures capture some of the activity around the schools of Municipio XVII (the area of Roma north of St Peter).

The slideshows contains my first broad selection of pictures from election day.

Some additional notes to this essay:

1) My original plan was to take a picture of Roberto Tavani (the candidate I followed during his campaign) as he voted, but I could not get the necessary authorization which is only given to the press. So the story of the candidate lack this important moment. On top of this, it was not possible to engage much with Roberto on the day as he was working as a polling officer, and therefore on duty.

2) Even if I had the authorization to take the pic, I still would have had to persuade Roberto to vote late in the day (which is against his usual electoral routine!). I had to vote in Torino and then get back to Roma by the afternoon.

3) It is not possible to get pictures of election officers and voters in action: taking pics of voting boots is forbidden. Basically one can only take pics of what happens in school corridors, not in the classrooms where the voting happens. Taking pictures of voting booths (or simply carrying in the voting boot a mobile phone with a camera) is a crime sanctioned with 300 to 1000 Euro. One could even be arrested, from 3 to 6 months. Not worth risking!! The reason for this is to limit vote selling.

4) I had hoped to take more pictures of people giving a final look at the electoral posters, with symbols and names of candidates (which are a bit of a rip off by the way as in Italy we now have no way to chose the candidates we vote, as we used to). In Torino these posters are put outside the schools, so it is really easy to take pics from the streets. In Roma, however, posters are put inside the school (bad surprise!), so it is more challenging to intrude the space and take pictures of them.

5) I tried my luck anyway and asked to police officers guarding the voting stations if I could take some pictures. Some of them were kind and let me do it, and I was quite quick and covert in doing it. Despite this I had to face a couple of voters who did not want me to take pics of the corridors., even if I always tried not to single out individuals. The police officers were kind enough to take my side . After that they commented, sadly, that it was as if people were ashamed to vote… The plus point of this discussion is that some other people who overheard the conversation said that would not oppose a pic of them and let me take it.

6) It was very difficult to give a sense of a story, this essay is more of a setting… The story of voting day I had in mind would culminate in the street vigil/celebrations for the results. But it was soon quite clear that the left - who would usually meet at Piazza del Popolo - was going to be badly defeated and no one showed up. there. The people from the right really did not have a celebration spot to visit. I should have taken a pic of a tv set instead!

Borders (toying with the idea)

I was walking around the Quirinale (the presidential palace hill), coming home from a boring debate on photography in Italy. I expected some interesting insights but most of the participants were frustrated museum directors. Empty streets, no one around. Suddenly I heard the typical sound of a car hitting a road paved with “sanpietrini”.

Sanpietrini (the name cames from “St. Peter”, where they were first used) are the square stones used to pave roads in Italy. The nightmare of cyclists as they make the ride really bumpy. When you are on a car (or near one, in my case) which pass from the smooth tarmac to the sanpietrini, the tyres make a characteristic noise. I associate it to visiting my relatives in their village: it was not when I saw the street or the house that I knew I was arrived but only when I felt the sanpietrini (who often would wake me up). A sentimental detour, but just to point out that the border between tarmac and sanpietrini is a meaningful one for me.

So I started to wonder where are, in Roma, the borders between roads paved with sanpietrini and tarmac. The spot where I had the idea really looked like a border: a small police post guarding the presidential palace was perfectly lined up with it. In the slideshow below you can find other examples of such borders, captured on my walk back home. I tried to take pictures of people crossing them (in the roads around the Quirinale I managed to get some martial pictures of military “crossing borders”) looking at maps on them (this faulty lines seems to confuse lost tourists), or simply hanging around. Sometimes these borders would divide a road by the length, and people would do different things on different surfaces (e.g. walking or reading books). If I was serious about it I should map where the sanpietrini are, and start probably with the original sanpietrini around St Peter. Anyway, for now I was only toying with the idea.

I also found interesting the borders established by the “madonnari” as they do their street painting. I spent some time looking at one of these artist to check if people were respecting or not the border he established by a crowded corner. Mixed results. Other madonnari chose not to establish borders, and trusted people to respect their art.

Last but not list, this bridges between a borders and faith project (in restrospect I should have pushed for faith.. Roma would have been the perfect spot!)