CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO START SLIDE SHOW.Most of Daimon’s work focuses on Africa, he has made strong documentary work in Uganda, working as a freelancer with Trouw newspaper for a number of years. The work presented here was created in cooperation with the VPRO radio network. It really shows the strength of audio slideshows. Due to its nature, photography needs a second medium to contextualize it. To me, there is no better way then to allow the people portrayed to tell their own stories. Daimon has done that extremely well, the Detroit work is heartbreaking.
Detroit
by Daimon Xanthopoulos (the Netherlands, 1979)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Detroit has been in decline for thirty years now. Its population has been halved and most of the people left behind are poor and demoralised. One third of them live below the poverty line, 22% is unemployed.
Detroit is a bankrupt city with no hope of addressing the problems of its distressed neighbourhoods, where the only chance of positive change comes in the form of local self-help initiatives.
Everyday families are being evicted and an increasing number of people find themselves homeless on the street.
With the economy still going down the situation worsens and everyone is holding their breath, trying to overcome the crisis that struck this once famous industrial automotive city.