154/200 - Ismael
On any given day around Ottawa you can see a very unique Honda Accord driving around town. I'm pretty sure there is nothing else like it in town. It is full of lights, decals, chrome and anything else you can think of. When the car is parked in the Byward Market you can always be sure there is a crowd of tourists around it with their cameras at the ready.
The driver of that car is Ismael a very friendly and obliging individual, when I approached him about my project he asked me to join him at his table to tell his story.
Ismael has had a very eventful life, he was born in the Congo to a British father and a Greek mother. He tells me that only him and his sister are black, the rest of their siblings are white (half-caste). In 2003 there was a lot of tribal conflict in his native country, along with his wife and child he fled to Uganda. The violence was so bad in the Congo that members of his extended family were killed.. Approximately 4 years ago Ismael and his family arrived in Canada, he is a mechanic by trade (hence the unique wheels). Currently he is working on getting the appropriate qualifications to work as an auto mechanic in Canada.
Thank you Ismael for sharing your story, I wish you well in your ambitions to be a mechanic. No doubt we will be seeing you around town in your very unique Honda Accord.
This is picture #154 in my second series of strangers.
You can find other photographers' work on this project at:
154/200 - Ismael
On any given day around Ottawa you can see a very unique Honda Accord driving around town. I'm pretty sure there is nothing else like it in town. It is full of lights, decals, chrome and anything else you can think of. When the car is parked in the Byward Market you can always be sure there is a crowd of tourists around it with their cameras at the ready.
The driver of that car is Ismael a very friendly and obliging individual, when I approached him about my project he asked me to join him at his table to tell his story.
Ismael has had a very eventful life, he was born in the Congo to a British father and a Greek mother. He tells me that only him and his sister are black, the rest of their siblings are white (half-caste). In 2003 there was a lot of tribal conflict in his native country, along with his wife and child he fled to Uganda. The violence was so bad in the Congo that members of his extended family were killed.. Approximately 4 years ago Ismael and his family arrived in Canada, he is a mechanic by trade (hence the unique wheels). Currently he is working on getting the appropriate qualifications to work as an auto mechanic in Canada.
Thank you Ismael for sharing your story, I wish you well in your ambitions to be a mechanic. No doubt we will be seeing you around town in your very unique Honda Accord.
This is picture #154 in my second series of strangers.
You can find other photographers' work on this project at: