Where We Are

For thousands of refugees from Africa who make the harsh journey from war-ravaged homelands to an adopted one in Europe, arriving at a desired destination after extreme hardship and often with the help of sheer luck is only half the journey. After that comes the ultimate test of human resilience and dignity – the battle of identity, the desire to be accepted and socially integrated. The ‘asylum seeker’ is sucked into the vortex of documents and permissions, economic and social profiling, learning of a new language and barbed halfway homes. Surviving all this is challenging.

In this body of work, done in the autumn of 2013, I have examined the lives of ten Eritreans trying to find their bearings in a new land (Switzerland). The diptychs present spaces the subjects wanted to be photographed in (reminding them of the memory of the home left behind) juxtaposed with spaces they inhabit, visit, or pass by (a portrait of their new life). It raises the question of what constitutes the idea of home? Is home a country, a place, a shelter or something more intangible?