Bernard Kwapiński - Finalist of the third edition of the Krzysztof Miller Prize for the courage to look 2020

HAPPYLAND Manila, Philippines

TEXT AND Pictures: bernard kwapiński

In 1995, the Manila authorities closed down the overfilled dumping ground, and the people working there were transferred to a piece of land which was used as a food waste landfill. Although they were allowed to stay only for a while, they did not leave this place and created one of the largest existing slums, today sheltering over 30,000 inhabitants. HAPPYLAND - this official name was coined from the spontaneously replaced letters in the name HAPILAN coming from the local Visaian dialect, which originally referred to this place as stinking land. Story is a record of the phenomena that I found most poignant, especially those related to the children living in misfortune.

Bernard Kwapiński – a photographer by education and passion. Graduate of the Faculty of Photography at the University of Dortmund (Visual Communication / Photography). Member of Press Club Polska and founder of the Fort Institute of Photography Foundation, which he established in 2016 to support Polish photography. Founder of a photo gallery operating at the IFF, as well as the only unique photography-oriented reading room in Poland, to which he donated one of the country's largest collections of photo books. He published his works in foreign and Polish press (among others, in National Geographic Polska) and presented his photos on various Internet portals (including Lens Culture). For last three years, he has been working on several long-term projects aimed at publishing books.