Exile in Main Street
Casal Vedoso Portugal

Casal Vedoso is a downgraded district in the heart of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. During the last 15 years, the whole district has turned into one of the biggest drug hangouts in Europe, sheltering addicts of every age and nationality. Next to the Casal Vedoso's houses, where ordinary portuguese families live, next to one of Lisbon's main avenues, but so far from peoples' consciousness, the drug user experiences his own hard "reality" under the watchfull eye of a tolerant police.

Entering in Casal Vedoso is dangerous if not impossible. However, our camera entered for the first time ever, revealing a diverse picture of "everyday life".

"Special" schools for "bad" children
Hamburg, Germany

"Sonderschule" means special school, but "special" in this case is an euphemism. The students of Astrid Lindgren Schule in Hamburg are considered special not because they are "sick", but because of their "antisocial" behaviour.

This portfolio tries to capture their way of expressing themselves through personal close ups, a sort of "visual interviews". There is also a sequence of photos that show them interacting with each other: expressing anger or friendship, forming volatile coalitions, usually according to the distinction between native German and immigrants.

Immigrants' children are (naturally) overepresented as they count for 40% of the school's students: Arabs, Yugoslavs, Turks, Greeks, even children from Thailand or Afghanistan.

Most children share a similar past (poor or separated parents, expulsions in school). As one of their tutors puts it: "A child always seeks to attract attention. Their way of doing it is violence".