Zaatari refugee camp is the world’s second largest refugee camp, a home to about 150,000 refugees (Fall 2013 estimates). Couple of months ago, I wrote about Rena Effendi’s project The Women of Zaatari Refugee Camp, and today I am happy to present a lovely initiative from Zaatari I stumbled upon this week. The tumblr site Inside Zaatari is run by teenagers living in the camp:
“We’re teenagers living in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, seven miles from the border of our home country, Syria. We’re using iPhone photography to document our lives.”
The site was created following a visit to Zaatari refugee camp by Magnum photographer Michael Christopher Brown. Brown spent a week in the camp in August, teaching iPhone photography skills to ten teenagers displaced by the ongoing conflict in Syria. Everything on the site is their photos, and their voices – a new and unique portrait of life as a teenager in a refugee camp.
Here are some of the photos together with their thoughts about this project.
“In the future, if I become a good photojournalist and if I become famous, I’ll get the chance to leave this place to take pictures.” ► Khaled ◄
“When I hold the camera up to take a picture of someone I see things through the lens that can’t be seen with the naked eye.” ► Samar ◄
“Being a good photographer does not depend on the kind of camera you have but on the way you take your pictures.” ► Nour ◄
“Photography gives me a space to express myself. It allows me to follow my dream to become a journalist.” ► Hiba ◄
“The iphone project allowed me to move around the camp more than usual and to go to places I did not know.” ► Rahma ◄
/all images via Inside Zaatari/
For more on this lovely project supported by Save The Children, visit the Inside Zaatari tumblr.
Thank you! I worked with Michael the photographer on this project and it’s so nice to see the childrens photos being shared widely. They will be so happy.
Thank you, this means a lot to me ! 🙂