Transit Tales is a European participatory photography project with migrants, funded by the European Union ERASMUS+ program; a project collaboratively conducted by the Documentary Photography Center (CFD) of Barcelona, Jungleye association (Calais), O.S.T collective (Brus- sels) and EYFA (Berlin).
Throughout the so-called “migration crisis” photography and images in the media have been a powerful tool in shaping public perceptions of what’s going on. These images, in turn, impact public opinion, political discourse and institutional solutions (or the lack thereof).
Transit Tales workshops bring together a group of 10 to 15 people of various gender, age and nationalities to create a Logbook using a mix of illustration, collage, photography and writing.
The logbook is a creative tool for participatory photography created by the OST collective. The ‘logbook’ comes from the idea of a ship’s logbook, a record of a journey or a book of images, and is a creative tool designed to be both collective, and individual. The participants are given a basic camera, a logbook and a pen. It offers an opportunity to each participant to give voice to their field of experiences, covering issues they are familiar with. It contains a sequences of instructions / missions, which the participants respond to using a personal mixture of photography, words, drawings, and collage. These responses turn the logbook into a transmitter of images and experiences. These missions can seem to be very concrete but in reality can be very open.
The Logbook is divided into four sections:
• IDENTITY / I am: we learn how to describe ourselves through an image and words. Focusing on us to better find ourselves and re-building our self-identity.
• TERRITORIES / I live: yesterday, today, where do we progress and move? From where can we find our roots? What territories did we go through?
• MY REFUGE / I observe: going back to our personal place. What are the first feelings connected to arriving in Germany. Where do we find a refuge? What are our first needs? Are there any gaps?
• PROJECTION / I imagine: how do we project ourselves in the future? Prepare a new start; regain our self-esteem through re-building our self-image and identity; and regain independence and freedom.
Designed to be meaningful for participants from all over the world, and to establish a database of contemporary realities, the logbook has proved to be an intimate and efficient creative, anthropological, and political tool.
For Transit Tales workshops, the logbook was specially adapted with Jungleye, including new assignments and translation into three languages (Spanish, French, English).
