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Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given are a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long.

– I just happen to have a Swedish passport. How the state has treated us, I don’t want to be associated with Sweden at all. It’s a fucking dictatorship here, how they persecute us.

Yasmine, 16, is one of thousands of children who has been forced to live on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, April 27, 2016, after fleeing the war in Syria.

"It's horrible, I feel shy, but I'd rather sit here and beg than get married like my friends".

Fatma, 6, from Aleppo has just taken a break after a long day of begging for money on Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, April 28, 2016.

Alamin, 29, is posing for a portrait in the kitchen on October 3, 2017 in Jakobsberg, Stockholm, Sweden. He has been working for the same employer for four years. For 736 US dollars a month he worked 50 hours a week. For the past month he has been working for another employer, without any pay at all. Both workplaces are Bangladeshi restaurants.
All this to get his working visa. A visa he's been fighting for for over four years.

Habib Hallak, 16, outside Rinkeby subway station on January 27, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden. Habib Hallak is not involved in the criminal gangs and says that nobody in the suburbs wants to talk to the police.

Alamin, 29, is posing for a portrait the kitchen on October 3, 2017 in Jakobsberg, Stockholm, Sweden. He has been working for the same employer for four years. For 736 US dollars a month he worked 50 hours a week. For the past month he has been working for another employer, without any pay at all. Both workplaces are Bangladeshi restaurants.
All this to get his working visa. A visa he's been fighting for for over four years.

Alamin, 29, is texting his wife who lives in Bangladesh on October 3, 2017 in Jakobsberg, Stockholm, Sweden. He works 12 hours a day without any salary and his only company is his wife- Jannatul, who he's never met. They married online.
All this to get his working visa. A visa he's been fighting for for over four years.

Cobra has traveled from Paris, France, to suport Papy Abedi during the fight against Dylan Andrews on April 1, 2017 at Eriksdalshallen, Stockholm, Sweden. He is emotional after the defeat.

Alamin, 29, is looking out the window from a two room apartment in Jakobsberg on October 3, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden. He shares it with six other people.

Mother of three, Liselott, 44, helped her motorcycle gang member boyfriend to captive and blackmail a man.

Alamin, 29, in the kitchen on October 3, 2017 in Jakobsberg, Stockholm, Sweden. He has been working for the same employer for four years. For 736 US dollars a month he worked 50 hours a week. For the past month he has been working for another employer, without any pay at all. Both workplaces are Bangladeshi restaurants.
All this to get his working visa. A visa he's been fighting for for over four years.

Mother of three, Liselott, 44, helped her motorcycle gang member boyfriend to captive and blackmail a man.

Caroline Khamo in her bedroom on June 14, 2017 in Norsborg, Stockholm, Sweden.
One day a cooperation, Botkyrkabyggen, agrees to hang up a "rest in peace" painting as a tribute to three gang criminals in the center of Fittja, Stockholm. Caroline Khamo is proud over Fittja and it's history including the three portraited men. She likes the painting and wants to remember them as they were.

Therese Storm, 36, is living with the diagnosis PMDS. For about two weeks every month her personality and behavior changes. She easily gets angry, frustrated and her anxiety makes her tired.

Papy Abedi huggs a friend just before the fight against Dylan Andrews on April 1, 2017 at Eriksdalshallen, Stockholm, Sweden.

Viggo, 11, is resting in his mother Thereses bed.

Therese Storm, 36, is living with the diagnosis PMDS. For about two weeks every month her personality and behavior changes. She easily gets angry, frustrated and her anxiety makes her tired.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– They don’t want any signs left of us hunting and fisherman Sami. They just want a small klick of Sami who is nice to show up for turists, says Anita Gimvall, hunting and fishermen Sami.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– We Sami people are a very isolated group. We are experts in ranking our selfs. Reindeer owners are the super Sami. Lowest on the list lays hunting and fisherman Sami, says Håkan Jonsson, leader of the Hunting and Fishing Sami Party.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– The politicians are interfering with everything! You can do nothing without having a lot of fucking papers, says Torsten Jonsson, hunting and fishermen Sami.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– I just happen to have a Swedish passport. The state has treated us terribly, I don’t want to be associated with Sweden at all. It’s a fucking dictatorship here, how they persecute us, says Anders Sunna.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– The Swede thinks that we Sami people gets a lot of funding from the government, but that isn’t true, says Britt-Inger Sunna.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– In 1986, a police patrol with a group of reindeer owners came to my family and forcibly displaced all our reindeers and took away our reindeer mark, says Bo Sunna.

Sami culture sells.
Pictures on nature loving natives, Sami art and design meets visitors in hotels and national parks in northern Sweden.
The picture who is given is a Sápmi and Sweden who lives in harmony. But actually the conflicts are becoming more violent than in a long time.

– We, Sami people, are nice to have on postcards, says Niila Inga, chairman in Laevas Sami village.

Hager Ramadan, 21, and her mother Elmaz Ramadan before a game at Malmö IP, Sweden, June 12, 2016.

"A couple of years ago a neighbour told me that I shouldn't let my daughter play football", says Elmaz Ramadan. She's always been her daughters biggest supporter.

Sham, 12, is leaving the Unicefs "girls safe center" in Sanliurfa, Turkey, April 24, 2016. She has danced and sung freedom songs at the center, who is a safe space for Syrian girls.

Serde, 5 och Janna, 3, from Kobane in Suruc refugee camp, Turkey, April 25, 2016. The camp is the largest in Turkey, approximately 35 000 refugees lives here according to Unicef.

Diana, 10, from Aleppo in Suruc refugee camp, Turkey, April 25, 2016.

"It was my birthday yesterday. We didn't celebrate it so much, but today i'm going to have a party with my family".

Abdo, 3, from Kobane is living in Turkeys largest refugee camp Suruc, April 25, 2016. Approximately 35 000 refugees lives here according to Unicef.

Oday Awad, 9, gets a haircut by Mohammed Shian in the refugee camp in Idomeni, Greece, March 19, 2016.

"I want to go to Germany. I have done surgery and need medicin. When i grow up i want to play football", says Oday Awad.

Jihan, 4, is quite, she is in the background of the other children in Suruc refugee camp, Turkey, April 25, 2016. She fled from Kobane with her family.

Jihan, 6, is just arriving to school in Suruc refugee camp, Turkey, April 25, 2016. It's the largest refugee camp in Turkey. Of the approximately 15 000 children who lives there only 6 000 of them goes to school according to Unicef.

"I would want to be a doctor when i grows up, because that is what my sister want to be".

Aya, 2, is stranded on the border to Macedonia in Idomeni, Greece, March 20, 2016. According to Unicef 43 000 people are stuck in Greece, 20 000 of them are children.

The siblings Muhammed, 7 and Amina, 8, is waiting for the school to start in Suruc refugee camp, Turkey, April 25, 2016. Of the approximately 15 000 children who lives in the camp only 6 000 of them goes to school according to Unicef.

"I want to be a doctor, because then your kind", says Muhammed.

"I want to be a teacher, because that seems to be the funniest", says Amina.

Alina, 3, from Aleppo is walking around with her doll in Suruc refugee camp, Turkey, April 25, 2016. It's the largest refugee camp in Turkey, approximately 15 000 children lives here according to Unicef.

"I bought the doll when she was a baby. The doll has no name but she always play with it. It's the only toy we got with us from Syria", says Alinas mother Gulistan.

Mohammad, 2, is waiting with his pregnant mother by the hospital tents in the refugee camp in Idomeni, Greece, March 19, 2016.

Papy Abedi is geting a massage to get in the right mindset before the fight on April 1, 2017 at Eriksdalshallen, Stockholm, Sweden.

ICA is Almgårdens only shop and the natural gathering place. The owner knows everything about everyone. Some residents has a credit in the store. According to the police peddling drugs are common outside the store.

Lamin and Kevin are looking forward to go to a house party in the evening.

Sheriff, Göran Svensson, knows that the inhabitants of Almgården always does the right things. Sure, there are some drunken old trotting drivers. But the sheriff point of view is that nine out of ten crimes is committed by immigrants. It is in their culture, he says.

Hannah Liljekvist is hugging her sisters father in law on her sisters boyfriends birthday party.

Kevin is always hanging around in Almgården. The young are often stopped by the police, because of their appearance, they believe. They will not be treated as young people from the nicer neighborhoods.

Madeleine Liljekvist with her two months old baby and her younger sister on her boyfriends birthday party.
Madeleine is twenty-five years old and feels scared when she goes outside of Almgården. But she feels secure in the area, even though she knows that there are drugs and crime here.

Nestled inbetween the area's high-rise buildings and a green park that looks like the countryside is Almgårdens preschool. In the backyard Jasmine is by her self.

"My mom is always sick because my dad does not help out at home. We would go to the movies tonight but now we can´t because she is sick.
Dad is stupid. He is just watching horror movies and adult films. And he is mean to our dogs. He says he will tape their penis.”

A cold January afternoon, brothers Robin and Alejandro Sinisalo gets attacked outside their home. A person dressed in black shoots them and the younger brother Robin gets killed. Alejandro survives but is left with injuries that makes him paralyzed from the waist down. After over 400 police hearings and a killer on the loose, the family struggles to move on.

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© Meli Petersson Ellafi / +46 739 88 11 05 /