- Site-specific cases
Barcelona tells different stories and every ‘barrio’ has its allure; a charm that can make anyone wander around the streets aimlessly. If you happen to lose yourself within its streets you will inevitably end up in the chaotic quartier of Raval.
Hidden amongst the architecture something caught our eyes: The many barber shops tucked within its narrow streets. Although these might go unnoticed at first glance, when looking closer each one is unique. Only in this ‘barrio’, we can find hundreds of barber shops, most of which are run by Pakistani men. This intrigued us: the high concentration of these barbers in el Raval.
With this photographic project we aim to disclose the hidden layers of a city, the ones which generate the network of trust among a community.Observing the immigrant’s stories, habits and most importantly, understanding how their presence transforms the original landscape of a city, we can comprehend the neighbourhood living dynamics and design new landscapes of care
This neighbourhood is a reference melting pot for such a multicultural city as Barcelona is. Here many different communities are settled, generating a unique urban landscape designed by the logics of several migration fluxes of the last forty years. Indeed, this portion of the city is mostly populated by foreigners (more than 53%), out of which the biggest and most well-established community is the Pakistaní one.
The barbers shops aesthetic was a stark contrast to the surroundings, bright colors, plastic flowers and the faces looking out from the windows had many stories to tell. This unique characteristic of the shops, is what caught our eyes at first sight and we were hooked. We couldn’t take our eyes off, this is the reason why we got involved with the community and heard their stories.
Shooting this series we pretend to make visible a story of immigrant people who keep strong ties with their own community and culture. Barcelona has many stories to tell, and this is one of them.
