Die Unsichtbaren

An estimated 100,000 people without a regular residence permit live and work in Switzerland. These so-called sans-papiers come from Latin America, Eastern Europe or Asia. They clean, look after children, work on building sites, in restaurants or for farmers. Often day and night, almost always in precarious working conditions at scandalously low wages. Up to 50 per cent of paid domestic work in Switzerland is done by undocumented migrants. They are, as they say today, systemically relevant - and yet we don't see them.

This book takes sans-papiers out of their backyard rooms and basement flats, makes them visible and their stories tangible. Journalist Tanja Polli records unfiltered and unembellished conversations with women and men who are forced to live illegally. What motivated these people to take on a life in hiding? What does it do to them to have to exist in constant fear? What are their goals, hopes and dreams?

Ursula Markus' photographs show the sans-papiers portrayed in everyday situations. Those who have made their way out of illegality, at work or in private with friends and family. Others who are still stuck in a life of constant fear, in places where they feel safe enough to meet the camera. For every book sold, one franc goes to projects for undocumented migrants in Switzerland.