Home. A place to feel safe. A place to feel loved. A place to be ourselves. Would you agree that such a home is something we are all entitled to? A basic human right.

While there might be a myriad of reasons why someone may not feel safe, loved or able to be themselves, the home in question can take many different shapes and sizes. Be it in a mud hut or a palace, a child growing up being abused will not feel safe, or a young man living in a society where he is forced to deny his homosexuality will not feel free to be himself.

And then there are those that are homeless, some by choice, such as the eternal traveller, but many by the circumstances they find themselves in.

Over the years I visited many different homes from the Palace of Thanjavur in India where I dined with the Raj to the simple mud-brick houses in the family compound of the girl I sponsor in West Africa.

Sometimes when I photograph a home it is the building itself that interests me but that is certainly not always the case. Looking back over my photographs of people’s homes in West Africa (Senegal and The Gambia) they are more about the people in the homes than the homes themselves. It is the people who make a place ‘home’.

Gambian girl_tonemapped #FriFotos

Mother_tonemapped FRIFOTOS #Frifotos

Gambian boys, Dairuharu, Brikama, The Gambia

#FriFotos, FriFotos, The Gambia

Sine Saloum woman_tonemappedBW

Gambian smile, Jeddah, Brikama, The Gambia

Jeddah, Brikama, The Gambia

Makasutu children_tonemapped

Binta_tonemapped

Lisa and friend_tonemapped

Grandmother and grandson_tonemapped

Lisa's gran and brother 03_tonemapped

Lisa's sister and gran #FriFotos home

 

Join my 'Behind the Scenes' newsletter

Delivered monthly to your inbox with all my behind the scenes news, latest posts and giveaways exclusive to my subscribers.