As the World Cup starts, we release 50 copies of The World Cup, a book that saw photographers documenting the World Cup through the eyes of the fans.
As the World Cup launches this week, we release 50 copies of The World Cup, a book that saw photographers documenting the World Cup through the eyes of the fans.
Four years have passed since the last World Cup. A young platform, we came up with a concept for a project, one that we've been enthusiastic about ever since. The only book we've ever had sell out before we had a chance to read it. A historic event that has been discreetly remembered on people's bookshelves ever since. A small platform at the time, someone from Mundial purchased a copy to the Mundial office and we were ecstatic. It’s Nice That kindly wrote an article about the book once it was published. A project that we look back onto with such accomplishment.
We’ve matured a lot since then, both in ourselves and as a platform and since then, we’ve dreamt and talked about running the project again.
We fast forward four years and the World Cup approaches once again, however the story is still corruption.
In 2010, Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup. Since then, it’s been reported that over 6500 migrant workers have died in Qatar. Construction of venues in Qatar has been in the form of seven new stadiums, a new airport and a whole host of hotels within an entirely new city.
A video from 2013 featured on the The Guardian showed images of cramped sleeping quarters in which one room is shared by 12-14 workers, horrendous bathrooms and kitchens in a labour camp on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital, Doha. Human rights organisations have spent much of the last 10 years drawing attention to the treatment of the workers. We ask ourselves how this has been allowed.
Aside from the brutal conditions for workers, another outrageous element in allowing Qatar to host the World Cup is the fact that it is still illegal to be gay in the country. Football is a sport that brings people together and the lack of investment in human-rights from FIFA is abhorrent.
We can’t ignore this World Cup and therefore we stand in solidarity with everyone who’s been affected and is making a decision to not support and give attention to this tournament.
We have decided to reprint our ‘World Cup’ in a limited run, with all proceeds going to Football v Homophobia. Purchase the book here.
