1st place
gold star award
Javier sanchez-monge escardo
spain
title
PORTRAYNG THE CHILDREN OF THE DUMPSITE
They were the children of scavengers, and some of them had to work hard to earn their lives by scavenging for plastic bottles or scrap metals which could be sold and sometimes for food. As the children that they were, they had the time to be happy, to play together, and to understand that the world that they lived in signified how the world was meant to be.
Some of them went to a local NGO to have some lessons, and even there they learned that they were not like the other children, named the "Children of the Somram" (the children of the dumpsite) and were mocked by the other students. Since most of the families couldnt afford to pay the NGO for their child's education very often they sent one of their children and have him teach to the others what he learned. Many other times, the elder brother or sister had to babysit for the younger.
Whenever it was time to work, they will tie a sack around their waists and wait for the arrival of trucks full of garbage. Once the garbage was dumped, they will thoroughly go through it with their hoes. Their only source of fruit would come at night and it happened during the tourist season ,when the dumpsite trucks would sometimes arrive with half rotten fruit discarded by the tourists.
The children of the dump play, love and smile, because they just don't know that whenever they grow up , they will have no place in a society ruled by wealth and
His works have been published on El País, La Vanguardia, El Confidencial, El Día, El Diario de Navarra, and about climate change through the Spanish agency Agencia EFE. Regularly he publishes on Periodistas en Español, addressed to Spanish speaking audiences.
More recently Javier Sánchez-Monge Escardó has been awarded the IPA Spanish Edition title of Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year (2017), Nominee by the LUCIE FOUNDATION for his works on climate change among four other international candidates to become the Deeper Perspective Photographer of the year 2017 and his works on Climate change were shown at the Dale Carnegie Hall in New York on October 2017.
Some of his prints have been exhibited at international photo Exhibits on behalf of the LUCIE FOUNDATION ( At the Mayors Summit , for the UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2015 -Addressing Climate Change-) or also on behalf of the Lucie Foundation on the MOPLA (Month of Photography Los Angeles). As well on behalf of the ALFRED FRIED AWARDS at the UNESCO building in Paris, and throughout different countries, such as in 2016, when travelling as part of the “Best of the Show” travelling photo exhibit organized by the International Photography Awards (IPA).
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entry description
The series belongs to a long term project I followed over 3 years, and it was only after some time that the children depicted themselves as they really were without minding my presence and portraying them with a struggling dignity.They were the children of scavengers, and some of them had to work hard to earn their lives by scavenging for plastic bottles or scrap metals which could be sold and sometimes for food. As the children that they were, they had the time to be happy, to play together, and to understand that the world that they lived in signified how the world was meant to be.
Some of them went to a local NGO to have some lessons, and even there they learned that they were not like the other children, named the "Children of the Somram" (the children of the dumpsite) and were mocked by the other students. Since most of the families couldnt afford to pay the NGO for their child's education very often they sent one of their children and have him teach to the others what he learned. Many other times, the elder brother or sister had to babysit for the younger.
Whenever it was time to work, they will tie a sack around their waists and wait for the arrival of trucks full of garbage. Once the garbage was dumped, they will thoroughly go through it with their hoes. Their only source of fruit would come at night and it happened during the tourist season ,when the dumpsite trucks would sometimes arrive with half rotten fruit discarded by the tourists.
The children of the dump play, love and smile, because they just don't know that whenever they grow up , they will have no place in a society ruled by wealth and
about the photographer
avier Sánchez-Monge Escardó is a Spanish photographer and philosopher born in 1965 in Madrid who has travelled and lived throughout different countries in an effort to document both humanitarian and environmental causes, specially dedicating himself in the past two years to the issue of climate change and to the man-made era of the anthropocene, among other issues of humanitarian nature, such as the Rohingya refugees.His works have been published on El País, La Vanguardia, El Confidencial, El Día, El Diario de Navarra, and about climate change through the Spanish agency Agencia EFE. Regularly he publishes on Periodistas en Español, addressed to Spanish speaking audiences.
More recently Javier Sánchez-Monge Escardó has been awarded the IPA Spanish Edition title of Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year (2017), Nominee by the LUCIE FOUNDATION for his works on climate change among four other international candidates to become the Deeper Perspective Photographer of the year 2017 and his works on Climate change were shown at the Dale Carnegie Hall in New York on October 2017.
Some of his prints have been exhibited at international photo Exhibits on behalf of the LUCIE FOUNDATION ( At the Mayors Summit , for the UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2015 -Addressing Climate Change-) or also on behalf of the Lucie Foundation on the MOPLA (Month of Photography Los Angeles). As well on behalf of the ALFRED FRIED AWARDS at the UNESCO building in Paris, and throughout different countries, such as in 2016, when travelling as part of the “Best of the Show” travelling photo exhibit organized by the International Photography Awards (IPA).
back to gallery