“In 2008, for the first time in history, more people will live in cities than in rural areas.
One-third of these urban dwellers – more than 1 billion people – live in slums.”
These are the opening words of Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen’s multimedia exploration of the world’s slums, The Places We Live. From 2005 to 2007, Bendiksen documented sixteen homes in four different slum areas: Caracas, Venezuela; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; and Jakarta Indonesia. The images he has captured are phenomenal (that’s and understatement) and are accentuated by the ambient sounds of the streets and interviews with the inhabitants. Each room is a 360-degree panoramic – the colors and the stories are captivating.
The touring multimedia exhibition is currently installed at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, where it was launched in June of 2008.
The online exhibition can be seen (here) and is worth the look. The accompanying book – which includes 20 double-gatefold images – has made my Christmas wish list for sure.