Nora Lorek

The remainings of an Iranian passport found after the south part of the Jungle was dismantled. 3000 people were living in this area before the eviction started.

This was the only two floored building in the Jungle built in summer 2015 did grow from a few hundred to 3000 within some weeks.

Majid, 22, from Sudn did ran out of his tent when hearing people scream about fire. Soon after he realized is was only the kitchen tent a block away and went back to sleep. During the eviction two weeks later the whole camp was on fire and burned to

European Jungle

Jungle is the nickname given to a refugee camp in the vicinity of Calais, France. Before it was demolished in 2016 and according to Help Refugees there were 9106 men, women and unaccompanied children living here in mud, tents or temporary shelters which they had build themselves and decorated as best as possible. All of them the had the same goal: to enter the UK. There were churches and mosques built of sticks, tarpaulins and plastic, papered with blankets. Syrians, Afghans, Sudanese, Kuwaitis, Kurds, Pakistanis and many more lived side by side among the seventy restaurants, shops and hairdressers that stretched along the main street of the illegal camp. During the last week of October 2016 the Jungle was demolished and the remaining refugees were moved to temporary asylum accommodations or trying to find shelter in the surrounding area. Today a lot has changed. Some of those who paid for smugglers have been reunited with their relatives in the UK. Others have already received their documents and started working. On the other side of the channel people still gather in hope of crossing the border – this time waiting without shelter, warm blankets or help of the community of the Jungle.

Nora Lorek

Nora Lorek (b.1992 in Germany) is a freelance photographer based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Additional to her assignments for newspapers and magazines she’s working on long term projects with focus on migration and human rights. The last years she’s been working on several projects in refugee camps and settlements with the focus on collaborating and visualizing the stories beyond the statistics and headlines. Following the people along the borders of Europe and showing the solidarity of those in need of protection Nora produced several exhibitions about the refugee camp called Jungle in Calais, France which was demolished thereafter. In 2016 Nora was the first Swede awarded College Photographer of the Year which led her to National Geographic and her ongoing project in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements in Uganda.