The life of Foreigners – my photographic reflections.
As has happened to me many times before, I wrote the title and stopped typing for a while. I chose these images last night with the idea to put a short photo story to my IG profile today, but was to busy at work. During the day in my mind I returned again and again to these photographs. What was this Chinese guy thinking about why exactly was he happy, crossed half the globe to work here on a construction site and feed the pigeons on weekends? The theme of foreign workers has been bothering me for a long time.
Maybe I’m wondering how he feels – no language, no worries about elections, feeling like you’re just a tourist working a lot, but it won’t last forever. The taste of the different food, the strange smell of pastry shops, not familiar sounds on the busy streets, and even the sirens warning of a ballistic missile attack don’t sound frightening. After all, the missiles aren’t aimed at you personally. And in all this chaos, there’s someone to care about. Someone who’s happy to see you every weekend.
The flock of bored birds was my object, and suddenly this guy changed the vibes, when arrived on his bicycle and a bag of food for them. Unlike many other workers who weren’t too keen to be in the frame, this one was very happy and even allowed me to take a portrait that would soon be developed i hopefully also scanned. We didn’t have a common language. I absolutely forget about the Google translator. but seems like the sign language was very familiar to him and we understood each other very well. He gestured for me to join him for a self portrait with the background of happy birds, so, who knows, maybe I became really popular on Chinese TikTok.
And now about my interest to the theme of “foreigners”. I moved here from Kazakhstan in 1993. I remember all my initial feelings of the first minutes-days-months and even years of the living here. The sounds of the new environment, the smells of unfamiliar food that I felt as I walked along the central streets, the sound of a language completely incomprehensible to me, the overwhelming feeling of a lost, but happy tourist, understanding of the political and social life of the country and the ability to maintain a positive mood despite a complete lack of funds. I clearly remember that many local residents in those years avoided new arrivals, especially from the countries of the former USSR. but still there were some curious who wanted to get closer and understand what it’s like to start a new life in absolutely foreign country. Looks like I’m one of those curious ones.
I will continue this theme with my documentary photographs taken under different circumstances, but connected by one theme – how to suddenly find yourself as a stranger in a new, unfamiliar society and how to go through changes, but also to preserve oneself as a person.
I planned to publish this post with the only four images from the moment which I described above, but finally added four additional photos, perfectly complementing the theme. The first is the dude with a traditional flat-front wooden cricket bat. I met the group of guys from India playing every weekend on the same site. The second is a Taiwanese chef grateful to me when I said thank you for the delicious dinner. And two final photos from the wedding in an Eritrean family. More is coming.
Those are wonderful photographs!
Thank you Peter.
Always glad to see your posts, Victor. Glad you’re doing well. Do you speak… what is it? Hebrew? now?
Hehe 😉 Indeed Hebrew speaking reading and writing very well. Now I’m learning Spanish. Just in love with this language. It will be my 4th lang.
Goodness. Save some languages for someone else.
(I’m kidding. I’m not conversant in anything but English, but I do understand a bit of Spanish, German and Japanese… I can sound out most Russian words — I know most of the Cyrillic sounds — but I don’t know what the words mean… talk about a useless skill)
Perfect English is enough to have a conversation in more than half a world. I should have known also the Kazakh language but the studies in school were so not serious so i finished with only dozens of words stuck in my head and surprisingly i remember them these days. Finally learning additional language is the best exercise for our brain plus i have fallen in love with Spanish and now during watching some movies with a spanish part i easily understand the main line of the sentences. Plus knowing a street and daily jargon is an especial fun of every language.
I couldn’t agree more…
Are there a lot of Spanish speakers there?
Actually a lot. Only in my office i have 3 (possibly more) coworkers moved here from Argentina. And surprisingly many people of a specific generation understand Spanish due to the endless watching of TV shows from south America countries, this genre was very popular in the 90’s. Right now im accumulating my knowledge with very difficult conjunctions and rules but one day hopefully i will speak and not just a market’s language 😉 Btw my mother in her history was a russian language and a literature teacher so i got it perfectly;-)
I really enjoyed reading this. I find it beautiful how you recognize parts of your own past in the life of the Chinese worker you photographed. That personal connection gives the story an extra layer of humanity and makes the images even more meaningful. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of this series and the stories you’ll tell through your photographs.
Thank you for reading and looking at photographs. I grew up in some far industrial city where Stalin pushed dozens of different nationalities from the central part of Russia. So it was the city of hundreds of thousands of foreigners who tried to live together and not always successfully. I always loved observing the lives of people out of their comfort zones, to find how strong people are when they are pushed to the edge.
Thank you for sharing this part of your story. It makes me understand even better why this theme resonates so deeply with you. Your photographs don’t just document people; they show genuine curiosity and compassion. I’m really looking forward to following this project.
👍✋
Such a beautiful portrait on the last .. such a great story telling on each photography. I moved a lot . At first sign language! Body language then adjusting culture /law was most difficulty to digest . Foods are okay luckily I have no problem at all and as long as there is food (spicy) WASABI AND GINGER 😅
Interesting that tourists can work in there ?
Assuming hiding 🫣
Wonderful and Beautiful! story you have written .
Thank you for the kind words Naomi. I know that you moved a lot and sure got very different experiences in every country. These are not tourists but foreigners workers or refugees. Not sure if tourists can work here but possibly there is some kind of visa. Wassabi, Chilly and Ginger are amazing. I put some spice on every food i prepare. Sometimes i add a lot ;-)))
HI Victor 🙋🏻♀️ I suppose with special visa a work visa. WASABI Chill pepper 🌶️ too I can’t live without them 😅
I heard that spicy foods provide a small, temporary boost to your metabolism! No wonder i move around as alive and kicking 🤣 Happy Sunday Victor . Oh you will be working ..
Yes prepare to drive to T-A. This weekend was a blast and i got endless energy;-) Have a nice weekend Naomi
Very interesting write up Victor. Unlike yourself, with a soon to be 4 languages acquisition, I cannot mentally grasp others’ languages at all. I have tried. But they are elusive in being able to retain anything learnt.
I remember reading a wonderful piece of prose regarding a lady who, like the people you write about here, had eventually became so entrenched in her new found life in a new country, (here in the UK) that she began to lose her own language. Eventually, almost completely. She found it very difficult to pull the old words into her mind. I found that fascinating. Nowadays there is every reason that culturally there would be others from her roots to meet up with. And therefore retain her life’s experiences from childhood with the ability to still use the nuance of her root language. But her new English words, in the way she described herself emotionally regarding the situation, were heart rending in a ‘loss of self identity’ sense. Beautiful prose that lost nothing in self expression using her new vocabulary. I wish I could find that written piece again.
I suppose this inherently shows that, whatever language is used, you never lose your soul.
Great photographs as ever Victor. Thank you for sharing.