1

Feeling at home

Portraits and self-portraits exploring what defines us. Perhaps a place or an object that talks about ourselves even if we are not part of the image.

“This building looks like an old one. I decided to take my self-portrait here, it feels like the 90’s and there is something… at the time that these buildings were built, Rinkeby was a free zone, unlike now, that it is a no-go zone.”

“Last summer it was my first time in Somaliland and I felt this thing that... I was home where my roots are! I felt it! I was like, oh my God, I am gonna talk in my language, no need of Swedish, English, Arabic… I want to go there again! First I took my self-portrait in front of home in Rinkeby with my brother. Later on I realized that I wanted to show this feeling so I chose to take a portrait of my brothers with suuqar: All families gather around this dish on Sundays”.

 

2

Uncomfortably

Places, situations, people. Where and when do we feel that we can not relax, that, somehow, we need to be aware of what surrounds us? Definitely, not unsafe but uncomfortable.

“The park is an uncomfortable place now. When I was a child, it used to be my favorite one, but now I avoid to pass through it. Last summer, my brother got shot there. I decided to face it, taking pictures of the exact place. Once there, I tried to reproduce the scene, what he might had felt: he wanted to escape but couldn’t run, then he crawled. It was this dark when he got shot”.

“When I wanna go to the center… there is a bridge where homeless people sleep. They always seat there. So, say it is at dark and I have to go past, and I feel unsafed. What if they do something to you? It is not many people, it is a family. They are…

“When I wanna go to the center… there is a bridge where homeless people sleep. They always seat there. So, say it is at dark and I have to go past, and I feel unsafed. What if they do something to you? It is not many people, it is a family. They are Rumanians, they beg in the street, in front of the subway. I think they are gypsies. They don't do anything but I feel I have to be careful, just in case. I chose to challenge myself by asking to take a portrait of them. Int the beginning I was shy, but when they noticed my presence, they called me to join them. I was very surprised, they were very friendly.”