AK Rockefeller Topics

Housing

A Sinuous Path Through the Slum

A Sinuous Path Through the Slum

There’s no way one can miss the presence of slum neighbourhoods in Bangkok. Urban poverty gets in your face, regardless where you’re travelling in the congested City of Angels. Despite its overbearing pre ...

Communities, Landscapes Shaped by Apathy

Communities, Landscapes Shaped by Apathy

Home Urban settlements, with their self-built structures of mismatched wood, cheap cement and rusted zinc. They’re vulnerable to rain and flood, and now, the dreaded cold. Maze Neighbourhoods, their alleys fill ...

Housing Beyond Reach

Housing Beyond Reach

Economic prosperity is an oddity of some sort, an irony at best, especially for marginalised communities in Thailand and Malaysia. According to experts, the economy is expanding, but based on what I have observed dur ...

Agelast

Agelast

The rainy season is upon us. Yet, in this colossal city, the homeless are still without permanent shelter, exposed to the harsh downpour, unable to escape the sight of lightning and the never-ending flash floods. Ban ...

We do not want to see them

We do not want to see them

I grow weary of failed promises… Of housing for the poor. Of a social welfare system that would improve the quality of life. Of protecting the dignity of the underprivileged. Yet human rights and societal value ...

Angels will rise

Angels will rise

Life is such, the parallel of life and broken promises. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2017.   ...

There is no comfort in the truth

There is no comfort in the truth

Every day; the homeless wander, The poor they slumber. Into the night – Then forgotten. Bangkok, Thailand 2017. ...

Through the back alleys

Through the back alleys

In Thai, an alley is called trok (ตรอก). It is most definitely narrow, well-used by pedestrians and riders on motorcycles or bicycles. Leave the major streets, move away from the tall buildings a ...

Don’t Greet the Sun

Don’t Greet the Sun

Unmoved. Indifference continues with its wretched touch of despair. Hopelessness. Homelessness. Thailand. Poverty.   ...

Hidden Faces of Homelessness in Tokyo

Hidden Faces of Homelessness in Tokyo

Urban poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental health issues and other concerns in a modern, developed Japan. I fear the issue of homelessness go increasingly unnoticed by the authority and society. Down-and ...

He Slumbered in a Nightmare

He Slumbered in a Nightmare

Wrecked by poverty and societal apathy, the homeless community finds no peace. The Dream Within A Nightmare Society appears to relish in delusions, where as long as they mind their own business, they can afford to re ...

The Squatters are Here

The Squatters are Here

Street art on land belonging to Chulalongkorn University. Artist: unknown. “The squatters are here” Forced eviction of residents of slums and “crowded communities” are common, especially when ...

The Slum is the Measure of Civilization

The Slum is the Measure of Civilization

Photos taken by Zashnain of a small slum near to Soi Chan 16, Sathorn. We’re seeing a negative change in Bangkok, of heightened apathy and further marginalization of the urban poor and the homeless.   &nbs ...

Housing: Paying Your Dues

Housing: Paying Your Dues

Migrant workers toil in obscurity, in poverty and hardship, living in bleak stuffy containers or under a rusted zinc roof, just so that Malaysians could own a house in comfort.   ...

Cambodia: Sweat and Tears of Human Perseverance

Cambodia: Sweat and Tears of Human Perseverance

The people of Phnom Penh, nowadays and those fortunately to go through university, will toil to secure jobs. They work in the city, keeping their heads above the increasing cost of living. Despite the economical conf ...

#IdleNoMore fighting for indigenous sovereignty in Canada

#IdleNoMore fighting for indigenous sovereignty in Canada

Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfills Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water. Colonization continues through attacks to Indigenous rights and damage to t ...

Papua New Guinea’s Soldiers and Cops exploited

Papua New Guinea’s Soldiers and Cops exploited

Papua New Guinean film maker Scott Waide’s recent video featuring the squalid living conditions of police in the Madang Province, highlighted the humanity and fragileness of these men in blue in Papua New Guin ...