Human Archipelago

Human Archipelago is the result of a collaboration between Fazal Sheikh and the writer and photographer Teju Cole. Motivated by the arrival of Donald Trump into the White House in January 2017 and the regressive, divisive policies that followed, coupled with a parallel shift to the right in countries across Europe and South America, the two authors were committed to reasserting publicly the humanitarian values they shared. Sheikh thus invited Cole to respond to a selection of his photographs, made over two decades, among displaced people in countries that include Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, South America, South Africa, Rwanda, Somalia, Kenya, the Middle East and Sudan, the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Taking each image individually, Cole’s short powerful texts address the importance of human relationships, the need to accept those from other countries, other religious and racial groups, as fellow humans with whom we share the planet. As with Sheikh’s photographs, in which his respect and empathy for his fellow individuals is always evident, Cole’s writings emphasize the need for hospitality and, irrespective of whatever religious, ethnic, or economic group we belong to, the need to treat each other with respect and recognize our interdependence on one another. We belong to a Human Archipelago, however scattered we might be scattered across the globe.