This place could be anywhere. I have been told it's near the star of the milky way, so I thought it could
be in the sky or in the space.
The children do not grow up there and as soon as they get there, time freeze for them.
There are pirates and fairies and nature - it's wonderful.
They brought me there, it was night and I couldn't see the way. I just saw when the driver turned at the
second star on the left and I fell asleep.
I woke up early in the morning and there I was: lush vegetation, smiling children, fairies, butterflies,
smells of flowers....
All seems like a dream when I ended up at Peter Pan's Neverland.
I am instead in a Thai refugee camp near the Burma border.
Most of the inhabitants in the camp are from the Karen minority and even if they are living in fairy tale
surroundings their lives have been frozen for thirty years.
They can't grow up, actually they can, but just physically. Intellectually and professionally there is no
future for them in the camp.
The Thai-Burma border area is an exotic paradise but at the same time dangerous and tragic, however
for most people, it is unknown.
Although at �rst glance this might seem an idyllic village and the quality of life of its inhabitants is much
higher than "normal" standard of other refugees around the world, the Burmese who live in the camp
have suffered the most atrocious violence at the hands of the Myanmar army.
The camp's residents have been stuck for almost thirty years in a small corner of tropical forest with no
freedom or choices, but have managed to live with dignity between the barbed wire fence of the camp
under the strict control of the Thai army.
The Karen are the Never Land's people, more than sixty years of war has deprived them of a place to
live.
Today there are a lot of rumors after the ceasefire signed between the Karen leaders and the Myanmar
authorities, this is just a first step on the long road of reconciliation, meanwhile Neverland remains on
the second star on the left.
Vincenzo Floramo,
Was born in Trieste, Italy in 1968. After completing his studies at the Technical Industrial Institute, he began to live a nomadic life between Asia, South America, North America and Europe, which still continues. He has been committed to exploring, learning, connecting with and photographing the diverse expressions of human experiences that he encounters within these varied cultures.
In 2002 he worked as a photographers assistant at Uta Tabea Marten in Berlin, Germany and in 2004 he attended the Metropolis photography school in Madrid, Spain.
Recently he was present to a photojournalism workshop lead by the photographers Francesco Zizola and Lorenzo Maccotta in Italy.
For the last few years he has been spending most of his time in India and Thailand where he has become involved with several groups.
In Thailand he has spent extended periods of time living in the refugee camps, getting to know and photographing the Burmese there. With this project he collaborated with Amnesty Internationalâ??s magazine in Denmark, and exhibits his pictures in Barcelona and Madrid. In India he has become intimately involved with the customs, celebrations, institutions, and street life people of Varanasi.
He presently lives between Spain,Denmark and South East Asia.
