Mallorca Without Borders

Albert, a photographer and film maker friend of mine came into the office one day in spring and asked me: “Paolo, I was supposed to cover the expedition of 15 volunteer doctors and nurses to the Gambia in October but I can’t make it. Would you like to go instead?” I said yes right away…

Adana refugee camp – February 2021

(EN) When I first visited the refugee camp last October Support and Sustain Children launched the Rainbow Tent, an initiative – as the name implies – to provide a space and assistance for the children’s education. It couldn’t be used officially as a school as the local authorities had already halted such a project a…

Adana refugee camp – October 2020

I met Arianna last July in Italy. She is president of a non-profit organization called Support and Sustain Children, which is based in my home town, Bergamo. When I asked if I could join their future missions in one of the refugee camps in which they operate, the interest seemed to be mutual, but because…

SRI LANKA

AN INSIGHT I first developed an interest in Sri Lanka while sipping beer in Munich with my friend Malte, when he suggested that I should read Naomi Klein’s ‘The Shock Doctrine’.  Malte told me he could not believe what happened in Sri Lanka after the tsunami of 2004. An estimated 40000 people lost their lives in Sri Lanka…

INDONESIA – Pacu Jawi

WINNER of “Competitive Events” –  INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2014  (link) Batusangkar, Indonesia The pacu jawi(cow race) originated in the Minankabau region of West Sumatra. It is held on rice fields as a celebration or auspice of good harvests and possibly increase the value of well performing cows and bulls. Jockeys also bite the animals’ tail to increase speed.…

INDONESIA – Mentawai

The Mentawai people have their own language, traditional law and religion (animism). Their society is based on equality, there’s no hereditary title and there are no subordinate roles. Their origins were unknown to me before receiving info in the comments below. The elder shamans normally gather to discuss issues concerning more than one family or village…

Munich – Slut Walk

It all started when Constable Michael Sanguinetti of Toronto Police Service said during a crime prevention forum that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”. He later apologized for his remarks but on the 3rd of April 2011 right in Toronto, a crowd of about 3000 people gathered for the first…

Munich Surfers

River surfing here on the Eisbach (Ice River – a tributary of River Isar) started around the year 2000. These waters approach 1°C in the cold season and flow at about 5m/sec. Although swimming is prohibited here, surfing is not. The only fatalities occurred over this wave seem to have been reckless swimmers rather than…

Palestine 2004

Not having a great deal of new pics to upload at the moment, I thought that a post on my 2004 experience in Palestine would fit well in the blog. So here it is…   I left for Palestine on the 14 October 2004. I don’t exactly know the reasons behind my interest in the current issues of…

UK London – Okinawa Day

Last Saturday was Okinawa Day in London and I was commissioned to photograph this annual culture and tourism promotional event sponsored  by the Okinawa Association UK. Okinawa is a 1,000 km long cluster of islands south of Japan’s main island also known for the controversial presence of US military bases there. It was a day of music, dance,…