Foreigner A photography project by Daniel Castro Garcia

The 2017 recipient of the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant in Humanistic Photography was UK photographer Daniel Castro Garcia for ”I Peri N’Tera”, the latest chapter of “Foreigner” his long terme project documenting the lives of people at various stages of their migration to Europe.

“With regards to the mainstream media’s representation of the crisis, more often than not, we (“Foreigner” was created in close collaboration with graphic designer Thomas Saxby and producer Jade Morris) felt that the individuals experiencing the situation firsthand were not being depicted in a decent or dignified manner. Fundamentally, people weren’t able to control the way they were being seen.

At the heart of the “Foreigner” project lies a motivation to connect with people, primarily through photography (and as the project has advanced, through film, graphic design and publications). We wanted to contribute to a well-rounded debate by affording our collaborators and subjects the opportunity to share their own personal accounts.”– Daniel Castro Garcia

Foreigner: Collected Writing 2017 is published by John Radcliffe Studio and available here.

– Discover more of Daniel’s work here

Port of Catania, Sicily, Italy, June 2015. A queue of migrants waits to be processed by the Italian authorities. Upon arrival the first items people are given by the Italian Red Cross, are a bottle of water and a pair of white socks. © Daniel Garcia Castro
Calais, France, November 2015. A group of Sudanese men play cards to pass the time. Despite extensive media reports in the United Kingdom that were committed to vilifying and exacerbating the negative aspects of life in the Calais “Jungle”, I found the communities I met to be extremely open and generous. People were always keen to break bread, drink tea and entertain deep discussions about their lives and their reasons for coming to Europe. There were indeed violent outbreaks in and around the camp but rarely would media outlets consider the often brutal actions of the French police and their militant, intolerant and violent control over people. © Daniel Garcia Castro
Idomeni, Greece, April 2016 © Daniel Garcia Castro
Somaro, Bouba and Abdoul. Lampedusa, Sicily, Italy, January 2017. Somaro, 19, Bouba, 19 and Abdoul, 22, arrived on the island of Lampedusa one week prior to this image being taken. They experienced a particularly rough journey and all expressed the trauma of what was faced at sea. Usually vessels leave Libya in the “peek season” between May and September when seas are calmer but in this case the traffickers forced them to take the journey. They had little information regarding their situation in Lampedusa and did not know when they would be transferred to mainland Italy. © Daniel Garcia Castro
© Daniel Garcia Castro
Aly Gadiaga. Catania, Sicily, Italy, November 2015. My work with Aly has been focused on concepts and themes that are personal to his own life but that are in turn representative of many other individuals in similar legal and bureaucratic situations. The theme of time passing is particularly important to Aly. Last year his younger sister passed away from a sudden illness and he was not able to return for the funeral. He has not seen his family for 8 years. © Daniel Garcia Castro
Sara. Idomeni, Greece, April 2016. Idomeni is a northern Greek village on the border of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). In a 2011 census, this small, agricultural village had a recorded population of 154 people. On March 9, 2016, FYROM made the decision to close its borders and subsequently halt the flow of refugees through the Balkans into Western Europe causing a tremendous population swell to occur. When I visited the village in April 2016 the population was estimated at 11,318 people, 40% of which were under the age of 12. All of these people were sharing 128 toilets with no official showers. Women gave birth in these conditions and dirty water and poor hygiene resulted in regular outbreaks of illness. Many children in the camp had shaved heads due to outbreaks of lice. © Daniel Garcia Castro
Enoch, Catania, Sicily, Italy, June 2017. Enoch, 16, from Eritrea, arrived at the Port of Catania two days prior to this photograph being taken. I found him sat in a bus shelter with two other underage boys, next to an abandoned car park where I had photographed other Eritrean migrants in the summer of 2015. Eritrean migrants regularly refuse to give their fingerprints to Italian authorities upon arrival and prefer to sleep rough until they are sent money to catch buses to northern Italy and cross the border. Usually their hope is to enter the asylum process in France, Germany or Sweden. © Daniel Garcia Castro
© Daniel Garcia Castro
Ibr. Catania, Sicily, Italy, August 2017. Ibr contemplates the sea during an afternoon at the beach. © Daniel Garcia Castro
Aly Gadiaga, Catania, Sicily, Italy, November 2015. Aly left Senegal and spent three years travelling to Libya, washing dishes in Mali and Burkina Faso in order to earn the money to board one of the dangerous pick-up truck convoys and cross the Sahara Desert. He has lived in Catania for nearly five years and has only recently received a work permit. This breakthrough however does not relieve the difficulty. Finding employment as a young African man is extremely challenging in Sicily. He recently attended a trial shift at a restaurant and was dismissed before starting. The reason given to him was that he is black.Everyone knows Aly as “Gucci”, a slang term for “good” or “alright”, because of his positive attitude. He has not seen his family for over eight years. © Daniel Garcia Castro
© Daniel Garcia Castro

Color street photo of woman in train by Tommi Viitala

2025 Street Photography AWARD

Win $2700 Cash Awards & International Exposure

In March, we are celebrating street photography of all styles!⁠ Candid depictions of quotidian life; prismatic hues amongst the grey of the city; subtle moments of joy, humor, or love: we want to see YOUR streets!⁠