Exposing Europe's Invisible Army

Photographs by Jim Goldberg
In 2003 the San Francisco-based photographer Jim Goldberg began taking pictures of what he calls the "new Europeans"—illegal immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers on the continent. Combining a variety of media and inviting his subjects to write or draw on their Polaroid portraits, Goldberg’s project, "Open See," gives Europe’s poorest and most overlooked inhabitants a rare chance to speak in their own voices. "The thread that runs through the work has to do with bearing witness," says Goldberg, adding that he’s not pushing any particular agenda. "The photographs are about asking questions, not answering them," he says.