This Is Us, Berlin .MLAC Museum, Roma/ Backhaus Galery, Berlin

This Is Us is a transnational photographic project that I’ve been developing over the past five years in Rome, Paris, and Berlin. The protagonists are teenagers born and raised in Europe by parents from outside the continent. The project began as a political reflection on the right to citizenship, but over time, I shifted my focus toward the sociological dimension—exploring identity, belonging, and representation. The goal is to break stereotypes by offering visibility and personal stories, rather than relying on data and statistics.
I’ve always been interested in questions of identity and belonging. My work has mostly focused on Indigenous populations in the Amazon, Colombia, Mexico and Norway. In 2020, due to COVID-19, I had to return to Rome and stop traveling. I had never photographed my own city before. Rome is often reduced to clichés in photography, so I wanted to portray a lesser-known side of it. That’s how this project started. I photographed 30 teenagers and, with the help of curator Veronica He, developed a unique exhibition format. The project was displayed on 30 billboards— usually reserved for advertisements —along Tramway 19. This resulted in a 13-kilometer-long open-air exhibition, running for three months.
I wanted to explore the same questions in a different context. Paris, like Rome, is nostalgic and touristy, but it also presents different issues related to my subject: colonization, migration from North Africa and Asia, Islam, and the divide between the city center and the banlieues. In Paris, I collaborated with the Sociology Department at Paris 8 University—particularly with Fabian Truong and Alessandra Chiericato. I photographed 20 teenagers and presented the work as an exhibition across the university campus.
For the third chapter, I received support from the Strategia Fotografia grant. Berlin is a very different city: newer, without the same nostalgia, but with a heavy past. Over 20% of the population has a migratory background, and it hosts the largest Turkish and Syrian communities in the EU. I photographed 12 people, mirroring the diverse boroughs of Berlin.
In total, I created 62 portraits across three cities. I don’t consider this project documentary work. I’m also strongly against the idea of photography as a predatory act. For me, it’s about dialogue and exchange. Each subject chose how and where they wanted to be represented, and how to describe their identities—regardless of their background.
This is not just a photo project; it also includes sound recordings and video to create a portrait that feels more like a landscape. I don’t claim to have answers. Instead, this project is about raising questions, reclaiming presence, representation, and visibility—especially in public space.