Emmanuel Lam, Asylum seeker, in Tel Aviv

This series of portraits of beautiful Emmanuel Lam is part of an ongoing project I am working on for almost a year . I am photographing in the streets of Tel Aviv, refugees and asylum seekers from Africa. My aim is to create a new consciousness, awareness and acceptance. In general the asylum seekers from Africa have been very badly accepted in Israel. A lot of unjustified suspicion and hatred towards them. I try , through introducing the culture, manners and beauty of the asylum seekers, to create interest, appreciation and familiarity, that will hopefully lessen the fear and rejection. I met Lam, an asylum seeker from South Sudan, during one of my excursions in the streets of Tel Aviv, and was immensely impressed by his beauty and personality. Lam is 21 years old and has come to Israel via Egypt and the the Sinai desert, partly by foot, with his mother and two sisters 9 years ago. He is working and studying and has not yet received a refugee status. I have invited Lam to the studio and took this series of portraits. I was aided by the stylist, Oren Dar, and we created outfits inspired by the African asylum seekers and refugees that I see going to the makeshift churches in the weekends. Most of the clothes are from stalls operated by asylum seekers. I have done the photos as portraits , relating to different African characters. The photos were published in the weekend magazine of Haaretz and got a lot of attention - good and bad reactions. Some people have opened their eyes to the beauty and others rejected the photos claiming that life in the Southern neighborhoods of Tel Aviv has become very difficult because of the asylum seekers. But I feel that the photos are important because even the opponents could not reject the beauty and I hope it changes their attitude slowly.