Visualizing the Invisible "Jungle" of Calais

Since 1999, individuals fleeing conflicts or escaping poverty in the Balkans, the Horn of Africa, Sudan, and the Middle East have come to Calais in hopes of crossing the English Channel on the boats, trains, trucks, and buses that move between France and the U.K.  Temporary camps – often referred to as “jungles” – have proliferated, and their periodic demolition has come to be seen as emblematic of the “European migration crisis.” Eric Leleu’s photographs document this changing landscape of watchtowers, barbed-wire fences, flooded zones, walls, and surveillance cameras and explore these failed attempts to control migration and the resilient presence of migrants in and around Calais.