For his gallery, Henri Ismail visited a place he called the Ten Cents Hotel in
Jakarta – not a real hotel, but a room shared by up to fifty people in the
Indonesian capital.
Henri, who took part in World Press Photo training at the Pañña
Institute in Jakarta last year, says “photography is a medium in which
I can express my view about social issues”.
The Ten Cents Hotel – so called because the accommodation, such as it
is, costs the equivalent of ten US cents – is Henri’s long-term project.
Crammed into the room are workers from rural districts who have been attracted
by the promise of the better-developed urban areas. The reality, though, is
that they can only just scrape a living selling items on the street.
They often travel long distances to Jakarta, returning home after two weeks
or so with some money for their families. Soon, they are back in the capital
for another spell on the streets before another journey back to their villages.
“The 'hotel' is the basement of a house which has been modified, located
along the Ciliwung River, the longest and the most polluted in Jakarta,”
says 33-year-old Henri. “My aim is to highlight the poor living conditions,
catch the public’s attention and then, hopefully, somebody will do something
to improve the situation.”
After studying initially in the Netherlands, Henri returned to his native Jakarta
in 2005 and now works there as a freelance. He used his Canon 30D with a Sigma
18-50mm lens, mostly in natural light but using flash in very low light. 
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