My name is Philip Behan and I have been working on a photo project which has been focusing on documenting the lives of Karen refugees from Myanmar who have been part of an Irish government refugee integration programme. They have been re-settled to Castlebar and Ballina in Co. Mayo, Ireland.  Over the past year I have been documenting not only the successes of their integration, but also their daily lives as they immerse themselves into Irish culture while keeping their own identity and culture intact.  I have been travelling between Dublin and Mayo at my own expense for the last year and will continue to do so until around January 2012.

I need financial support through Fund it to further expand the project to show the other side of the Karen people.  I would like to travel to Thailand and Myanmar to show the lives that the Karen people have left behind.  Most of the photography work will be based in the Karen Refugee camps situated along the Thai / Myanmar border.  The funding will also be used to hold a photography exhibition in Dublin city centre in January 2012, where I will contrast both sets of photographs alongside each other.  The exhibition will show not only the hardship of the Karen people in the camps, but also the remarkable changes in their lives that has happened since integrating into Irish society and how it has benefited their society for the future generations of their diaspora in Ireland.

Relatively new to photography, I am a part time freelance photographer based in Dublin, Ireland. The body of my work is focused mainly around humanitarian issues dealing mostly with refugees and displacement.Most of my work has been published by the UNHCR and United Nations Multi-Media Centre which thus feeds into a wide range of Ngo publications across the globe. I also recently exhibited images as part of the UNHCR's 60 year project in Photo Ireland Festival 2011, and last year my images from Yemen were exhibited at the 2010 Fotografia Festival in Rome.

As well as photography, I have a keen interest in culture and human behaviour.  I am currently studying for a BA in Anthropology and Social Studies in Dublin.  I also run a successful humanitarian photo group in co-ordination with the UNHCR and UNICEF, as well as project 50 which organises fundraising nights around Dublin.

I am currently working on two long term photo projects, one involving the intergation of Refugees into rural Irish communities and also another on which I am planning on documenting human development and pastorialism in West Africa starting with images for the World Food Programme in Niger in November 2011. I currently work in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.

To see a slideshow of some of my images showing the lives of the Karen people in Co. Mayo please have a look at my website.

Your support with this project is hugely appreciated and a massive thank you to all who donate !!

Phil Behan