The Calais ‘Jungle’
2022-Ongoing
1.2024- Two tents sit underneath a bridge next to the site of the original 'Jungle', Calais. The day after this photo was taken, the tents were replaced by digger tracks as the encampment was cleared.
1.2024-A portrait of an Iranian refugee by a petrol station on the outskirts of Calais. Before fleeing persecution by the IRGC, he worked as a youth football coach in Tehran, being born in nearby Shiraz, and hopes to start coaching again when he reaches the UK. Used by truck drivers to refill, the petrol station is round the corner from the original site of the Jungle, and has been used by refugees for years to attempt to sneak aboard and smuggle themselves onto lorries heading for England.
9.22- A family is escorted away from the shore by the CRS after attempting to cross the Channel to the UK illegally, from Sangatte France. After being brought out the water, they were then walked back to the road and questioned. Unless social services offer a van to drive people back to the camps, it is nearly a 3 hour walk.
09.22- A spotter observes over the sand dunes in Calais. Hired by smugglers to ensure successful dinghy crossings, spotters look out for police and sometimes work for days on end. Often smugglers hire someone who is physically imposing, to attempt to warn off the public intervening.
9.2022- A refugee shows me the hostile architecture that aims to combat tents in the city centre,Calais. The day the boulders were unloaded off the truck, tents were put up around the rocks.
7.2022- A portrait of Lam Manneh, Calais. A migrant from Juffereh, Gambia, Lam Manneh had lived in the 'Jungle' for 3 years when I met him first here.
7.2022- Lam Manneh's broken fingers. After an alleged altercation with French authorities, Lam Manneh's fingers were disfigured. A local NGO attempted to splint the finger using bandages, but soon came off.
9.2022- A pair of trousers placed over a barbed wire fence allowing migrants to gain entry to the motorway above, leading straight to the port, Calais. A city engulfed in barbed wire costing millions, with a 15 euro solution.
1.2024- With a harsh winter tearing through the outskirts of Calais, NGO’s have been supplied with state-owned busses to take those without shelter to a local gymnasium to spend the night. Between 4:30 and 5:30, unaccompanied minors are allowed on. From 5:30 to 6:30, adults are allowed to board(Translated into English,Tigrayan and Urdu) However, with an influx of Unaccompanied minors from countries like Sudan and Afghanistan, and a worrying increase in either misnomers of age or disappearances in minors (200 asylum seeking minors missing 2023, the guardian), the dangers that those might face in the jungle are ever apparent.
9.22- Flags of Eritrea and Effigies of Mary hang in the Camp 'BMX'.
7.2022- Blood stained mattresses near the port, Calais. A pair of mattresses, barely covered by the roof, offer a few hours sleep for migrants attempting to cross the channel at night.
9.22-No border. On a road leading into an industrial estate where the original 'jungle' was , a Road sign vandalised with "No Border"
1.2024- Refugees walk up a path from one of the camps ,to board busses to the temporary shelter provided by the state, Calais. Due to weather dropping well below freezing , the state decided to open shelter for a few days.
9.2022-A portrait of Semere,Calais. Originally from Eritrea, Semere lived in "BMX' and was trying to enter the UK by entering the trailer of Lorries.
7.2022- Tins of food sit in a Carrefour shopping trolley, Calais 'Jungle'.
1.23-A refugee from Sudan sits by a river, Calais.
7.22- Two holes through security glass at an international lorry refill, Calais.
1.2024- Blood soaked child shoes sit on the sand dunes, Calais Beach. Nestled between tufts of grass out of view from authorities down the beach, groups of asylum seekers sit for hours waiting for the right moment to attempt to cross the channel .
1.2024-A refugee from Iran shows me his feet during a harsh winter in the Calais 'jungle'.
9.2022- A Dinghy floating towards the UK, with people swimming towards it.
9.2022- A makeshift paddle, Sangatte. A jerry can that was used to collect water, cut in half and tied to a long stick to aid with navigating shallow waters in a dinghy, whilst attempting to cross the channel.
10.2024- Refugees from Yemen pray in Calais. Fleeing from persecution from the Houthi Rebels.
1.24-Remnants of tear gas canisters scattered across camps.
10.2024- The entrance to a tent belonging to a Yemeni refugee in Calais.
10.2024- Written on Portable toilets in the Jungle 'French police is Mafia'.
7.2022- A child's blanket left on the beaches of Sangatte after a dinghy crossing to the UK.
10.2024- A migrant shows me Passport confiscation papers, Calais.
7.2022- Tarpaulins hung off barbed wire fences to protect tents from getting too wet, Calais 'Jungle'.
7.2022- Food bins. The 'Jungle' is a sanitation crisis, and without any way to keep items cooled bins are used to store food away from rats.
9.2022- The silhouettes of cougar grenade launchers in the arms of French Police as toddlers run to parents, Sangatte Beach, Calais. CRS escorting migrants off the beach after a failed dinghy crossing. Firing grenades that contain 26G of TNT and 10g of CS gas, that land in the middle of the groups attempting to cross the channel, and disperse the crow often causing injuries.
7.2022- A French flag blowing in the wind amidst cable-tied shelves, forming a kitchen.
Known as Camp de la lande, the Jungle or Dzjangal in Pashto, the refugee camps in calais are home to tens of thousands of people per year. In 2016, clampdowns by the CRS resulted in the destruction of the official ‘Jungle’ site. The larger encampments have been disbanded; the remnants still scattered across the fields. However, since then, hundreds of refugees and migrants have lost their lives.
In-between toxic landfill sites, industrial zones and motorways sit hundreds of tarpaulins, tents and blankets, offering little solace to those wishing to cross the channel. Facing further persecution at the hands of French authorities, refugees and migrants navigate the small city on the west coast of France called Calais.
9.2022- A pair of trousers and shoes , soaked through with sea water and covered in wet sand, left behind after a failed dinghy crossing. Often made to walk kilometres back to camp, sometimes freezing, people attempting to cross the Franco-British channel by dinghy risk drowning, hypothermia and being arrested by French Authorities to make it to the UK.
10.2024- Written on a charity warehouse gate, UK and AFG, referencing journeys from Afghanistan to the UK.
Since 1994, British Border Forces have worked with France to patrol the shared-border and check vehicles crossing the channel for illegal Migrants. Then, there were 165 million WORLDWIDE. ; 281 in 2020. Though 30 years have passed, encampments subsist, and in 2015 the site where 1500 people were living was set alight in protest of CRS and French Authorities attempting to demolish the camp. Today (2024) there are a few sites where the jungle lives on. Near lorry yards, where security is often lax and long open roads can be blocked to aid boarding lorries, hundreds wake up daily hoping to make it to the uk. NGO’s supply hot food, clothes and wood, but they often act like “a means of control” as one migrant Described. Often trying to impose their own agenda on the situation, the aid that is supplied comes with suggestions of not crossing the channel and to attempt to settle in mainland Europe instead. The understanding in most of the camps is that there are jobs in the UK, even when the British government implemented a Rwanda Deportation plan, which failed, many said that they would make their way through Africa to come back to Calais.
7.2022- Water run, Calais. Due to laws that allow French authorities to ban NGO's from handing out basic resources in certain areas of Calais, as well as moving on charities at any given moment, migrants and refugees have to travel further and further to reach necessities. Walking along a motorway ramp, Lam Manneh carries a jerry can to fill up from a water carrier near a camp called ‘BMX’.
9.2022- Samere shows me his wounds, Calais. Injuries last longer living in camps in Calais, and injuries sustained trying to enter lorries heading to the UK, can be life-altering. For those who are unable to afford the skyrocketing prices of smugglers using dinghies, some refugees and migrants break into Lorry trailers to smuggle themselves across the channel.
1.2024-Alongside a motorway which heads towards the port of Calais, refugees gather round a fire in below freezing temperatures. Without essential equipment like tents, sleeping bags or roll mats, migrants and refugees take turns sleeping for a few hours and then sitting on guard throughout the night. The youngest of the group, A teenager from Ivory Coast called Abdoulaye, sleeps first but struggles to sleep due to the weather conditions.
10.2024- A portrait of Assif, Calais. Born in Reading, Assif’s parents moved from Pakistan to England before he was born, and has a Wife and children living there. However, due to alleged issues with his parents immigration details, after returning from a trip to Pakistan he was unable to enter the UK. Finding himself stuck at the border in Calais, France , he waits with migrants and refugees for ‘La vie Active’ a French NGO who delivery daily hot meals to the area. 6X7 Kodak TRI X.
9.2022- Lam Manneh cooking, Calais. With wood sparsely supplied by local charities, those living in the jungle are forced to take it upon themselves to find fire materials. Fly Tipped rubbish, excess building supplies taken from the surrounding industrial sites, mixed with industrial waste burning to cook meals. 6x7 Ilford HP5 Plus.
10.2024-Refugees prepare for a dinghy crossing by collecting hot food and drink by different charities,Calais. Before crossing the channel, items are split into two categories. One set for Calais, One set for the UK. To avoid police attention, one person collects food and one person collects coffee sachets and clothes.
Since 2022, I have engaged in documenting the refugee camps along the west coast of France, capturing the realities faced by individuals seeking safety and a new life. My images highlight not only the living conditions within these camps but also the perilous journeys undertaken by many as they attempt to cross into the UK via dinghies and lorries. The photograph above depicts a moment from my first visit at 17, seated in a camp that has since been dismantled and relocated mere meters away, a direct consequence of French regulations prohibiting permanent encampments. Through these images and stories, I aim to shed light on the ongoing challenges and resilience of those affected by displacement.