São Paulo – Last year, the Brazilian photographer Gabriel Chaim saw up close some of the more than four million children that were affected by the internal conflicts in Syria, which started in March 2011. Seeing these children in their own countries and also in the refugee camps, Chaim reveals a bit of the daily lives of those who lost their homes, the right to go to school and have a normal childhood. Part of this work may be seen in the exhibit Zaatari – Children of the War, on show until February 07, in Belem, city in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pará.
Chaim came to Syria with the help of the NGO Syrian Team for Progress and Prosperity, which helps children victims of the war. He had already covered conflicts in Egypt during the fall of president Mohammed Morsi, in July 2013, but says it was the first time he witnessed a war.
“You are in danger 24 hours a day. Every day you think something is going to happen and you are going to die. Fear is your worst enemy,” says Chaim, about his experience in Syria. The photographer stayed in the country from September to November of last year, following the rebels, but since the beginning of 2012 he has worked registering refugees in the Middle East.
“I didn’t go there to photograph the conflict,” he says about the days he spent in Aleppo. “I went there to photograph the hope that arises from the ruins. I wanted to register the story of people who lost everything,” he explains. Chaim says he would spend the day at the NGO headquarters, “a semi-bombed house”, according to him. “I searched for more factual news and the NGO tried to give me a minimum of safety.” To support himself, he sold his pictures to communication vehicles in Brazil and abroad.
Chaim started taking pictures of refugee camps in the Middle East in the beginning of 2012, for his project Kitchen4life. As well as a photographer, he is also a trained chef, and decided to unite his abilities. “I created Kitchen4life to show how the people living on society’s sidelines eat,” he tells. The focus of his project changed during his journey to Iran, where he met some refugees.
As of then, he started taking pictures in camps in other countries in the region, such as Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. The Zaatari camp, in Jordan, which houses 120,000 Syrians and after which his exhibit was named, was the most striking for Chaim, because of the friends he made there. Although his father is Lebanese, Chaim speaks little Arabic, but he made friends among the employees of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), who worked in the camp.
“Children in Syria live the moment. They know they are in danger, and are capable of explaining in details what is death,” states Chaim. “They have lost their innocence and have the responsibilities of adults. They fight for something many people give little thought to, which is freedom,” he says.
Before starting his project with refugees, Chaim, who is 32 years old and was born in the city of Oriximiná, also in the state of Pará, worked for one year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, taking pictures of luxury restaurants.
Chaim is to go back to Syria next month, to finish a documentary he is making about his work in the region. The exhibit currently in Belem has 25 images of Syrian refugees, both in their country as in refugee camps. After Belem, the exhibit will go to São Paulo and then Rio de Janeiro.
Service
Zaatari – Filhos da Guerra (Zaatari – Children of the War)
Until February 07
Venue: Gotazkaen Estudio
Rua Ó de Almeida, 755, Belém, Pará
Mondays to Fridays, from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Free
*Translated by Silvia Lindsey
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