Steff Gruber | Railway Community (2022)

Steff Gruber | Railway Community (2022)

Over 300 families live in Phnom Penh’s “Kilometer 6” commune, which is located alongside railway tracks that stretch from the districts of Tuol Kork to Daun Penh and Russey Keo (hence their name, the Railway Community).

The families live in self-built shacks, usually consisting of a single room. The people here—some of the poorest people in the city—often run small businesses in the form of mini-kiosks in their community. They arrange individual products on cloth in front of their houses. 

Because of the lack of space, the residents spread out over the train tracks during the day. Whenever they hear the train horns, they quickly gather their cooking utensils, chairs, sunshades, and children to clear the track. Just seconds after the freight trains have passed, the railway track becomes the center of life again. Like many Phnom Penh families before them, the Railway Community faces eviction. They are threatened with displacement because the Phnom Penh authorities are planning to build a 12-meter-wide concrete road and drainage system along the railway line.

“Over 300 families live in Phnom Penh’s “Kilometer 6″ commune, which is located alongside railway tracks. The families live in self-built shacks, usually consisting of a single room.”

Ownership of the land has been disputed ever since. For a decade now, community members and activists have been campaigning for their right to land and adequate housing.
Steff Gruber’s documentation of the lives of the Railway Community is part of an ongoing long-term project on the landless poor communities in Cambodia.

Steff Gruber

“I definitely consider my work to be political, particularly my documentary photography, simply through my choice of motifs – the people living between and on the graves in a Phnom Penh cemetery being one example. But there are also deeper levels of meaning.”
– Steff Gruber

In documentary photography, I am drawn to people and communities who haven’t been as fortunate as I have. Growing up in Switzerland, with access to a good education, excellent healthcare, and minimal financial concerns, I feel exceptionally privileged and profoundly grateful for this. Now, I aim to show the Western world that millions of people are not doing well. I’m especially interested in displaced populations.

In Cambodia, for instance, I have been visiting and documenting such communities for years. You can’t build trust unless you visit the same people regularly over the course of many years.
Between 2009 and 2014, I shot the feature film FIRE FIRE DESIRE in Cambodia and Thailand. In search of locations, my producer, Chris Jarvis, and I explored every corner of Phnom Penh on foot. We were literally out all day and all night.

See the full article in Lens Magazine Edition #134