Portraits for People

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Portraits for People

Portraits for People is a project to give families around the world a printed portrait for free.

It focuses on families who lack access to photography and are living in highly uncertain circumstances.

19/10/2021

Afghan family portrait with sleeping baby.
Follow .for.people to see more portraits.

14/10/2021

One of my favourite pictures from the painting session with children at the former Pikpa refugee camp on Le**os. Swipe to see the article I wrote (in Dutch) about my experience there!
Shout out to the WP Krant for publishing my work!

20/07/2021

At a closing marketplace, I noticed Don José Chak’s glorious fruit and vegetable stall. He welcomed me with a beaming smile to his ‘Frutería del amigo Chak’. He explained that he had been vending his goods since the San Roque market’s inauguration 14 years ago. With his 67 years old, he still wakes up at 5am to start working at the market. After the market closes in the afternoon, he starts selling ‘elotes’ (Mexican street corn) somewhere else.

He got super excited when I asked him if he wanted a photo with his shop. After printing his portrait, he immediately put in a small plastic wrapping to make sure it wouldn’t get damaged and proposed to give it a special place in his shop.
Check out .for.people to see more portraits and stories!

17/06/2021

Two girls from this colourful Mayan family were born deaf. Nonetheless, their mom tells me they understand twice as much as other children. The government recently gave them hearing aids, which could help the girls to understand even more!
Check out .for.people to see more background stories!

01/06/2021

These Algerian friends know each other from the asylum centre in Utrecht. Their asylum process has been complicated because Algeria is officially marked as a safe country. Nonetheless, they keep their hopes up and continue trying to prove their case.

Two of them regularly come to Villa Vrede, a daycare for undocumented people. They had brought their friend to spend some time together. He was pleasantly surprised and wanted to come to the centre more often. They were happy with the printed photographs as a souvenir from their time at Villa Vrede!
Follow .for.people for more portraits and stories.

19/05/2021

Every Tuesday to Saturday, Villa Vrede provides a warm lunch for undocumented people in Utrecht. For some people this is their only substantial meal of the day, so luckily Villa Vrede could stay open during the lockdown.

There’s a different cook every day of the week, preparing food from his/her culture. I took a portrait for this Algerian man, while he was preparing lunch for Villa Vrede’s visitors. In the end, I got to try his wraps and it was delicious!
Stay tuned to learn more about Villa Vrede and its visitors!

04/05/2021

Traditional hammocks originated in Central America and can be traced to the Mayan civilizations. In the Yucatán peninsula, people weave authentic Mayan hammocks by hand in the exact same way as the early Mayans used to do.

Marga has been making hammocks for a long time and showed me how to do it. She has a construction with 2 vertical poles and 2 horizontal beams that holds her work. With a lanzadera, or special needle, she swiftly works through the strings to create the hammock.
Stay tuned for more portraits and stories from Mayan villages in Mexico.

20/04/2021

This is one of my favourite quarantine portraits! Lulu was 23 weeks pregnant from their first child when I photographed them. She explained that the lockdown had changed their experience with the pregnancy because, for example, Alexander couldn’t join her in the hospital to see the ultrasounds.

They wanted to send this funny picture to Alexander’s dad as a surprise for his birthday. They also liked to have the portrait taken as a memory for their child, to explain in which situation he or she was born.

A journalist from the local newspaper joined my visit to this family, to capture the project and the family’s experience in lockdown.
See more quarantine portraits on .for.people!

13/04/2021

I loved this house when I first saw it! It was built 90 years ago and is currently inhabited by a family of 6. Marga invited us to come inside and treated us to some delicious, fresh coconut from the palms outside.

At first, the 2 youngest children didn’t want to join the photoshoot but, after they saw the result, we did another round with everyone together. I printed 2 copies of the picture so Marga’s husband can take 1 with him to Playa del Carmen, where he works and lives during the week.
Stay tuned for more family portraits .for.people

18/03/2021

[Part 2] Besides my parents, I also took a quarantine portrait of my aunt and uncle for my grandma. We all signed the back of the pictures and send it to the elderly home. She loved the pictures and keeps them at a prominent place in her room!

Afterwards, I did this project for many families in the neighbourhood to stay in touch with their grandparents in elderly homes.

A year later, I still haven’t been able to visit my grandma. Luckily, she just received her vaccinations, so hopefully we can meet in person soon!
Stay tuned to see more quarantine portraits!

16/03/2021

[Part 1] My parents on the first quarantine portrait I took a year ago! I had just returned from Mexico and wanted to send a printed picture to my grandma to show that we were okay.

My mom insisted to make a reference to the toilet paper shortage that had just occupied every household in the Netherlands... Swipe right to see the headlines!
Stay tuned to see the result we send to my grandma!

09/03/2021

I met this Eritrean man at Villa Vrede, a daycare for undocumented people in Utrecht. These people are called undocumented because they don’t have a residential permit to stay in The Netherlands. Most visitors at Villa Vrede have submitted an unsuccessful asylum application and will go back to proceedings with new evidence.

Undocumented people often feel unsafe and unaccepted in our society. They live an uncertain life in an almost 'invisible existence'. Beginning this year, I did my project at Villa Vrede to give the visitors a printed portrait and make them feel seen.

Address

Athens

Website

http://www.portraits4people.org/

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