In 2021. 139,468 foreigners entered Panama and 11,092 stayed according to statistics from the Panamanian national migration department. Panama has been a historical bridge to the world creating a culture built by many.
Nowadays, it feels like the country doesn't fully accept its multicultural reality. Leading to inequality, labor exploitation and xenophobia for migrants. There are many types of foreigners in this country living many lifestyles as expats, undocumented or refugees.
Of all these groups. Those, who migrated on their own to improve their lives, are now living in conditions that they didn't expect. This ongoing project explores how foreign communities have adapted to live in different kind of spaces.
Currently, the migratory crisis that extends from the Darien to the border with Costa Rica has many faces and with the project "Rented Borders" I look forward to show how migrants transforms apartments to live in, paying low rents and sharing spaces with other with the same conditions.
Walter Hurtado I Storyteller
Walter Hurtado (1993) is a freelance photographer and visual storyteller based in Panama. Walter´s work is focused on social justice, human rights, and migration related issues.