Bodenlos

"Bodenlos" (German, loosely translated "lost ground") is a photography project. The "models" are unaccompanied minor refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Iran. Currently, they are living in a refugee asylum in the city of Graz.



In this refugee asylum, minors from about ten countries are living. Most of them prefer not to talk about the past they left behind. At the beginning, they were rather reluctant to participate in the project. After a while two young men agreed. Then the next one. And when the photographer returned the following day, they were already waiting for him ... with a meal cooked for him: chicken, rice and naan. During the next weeks more and more wished to participate (via).



Bodenlos. Abandoned identities. Individuals who have lost ground. Those who have no ground, no home (or rather not yet a home), live between cultures. They live in a space where something new is about to be created.



The exhibition runs from 13 September 2014 to 9 October in Graz, Austria. The photographs are exhibited in the gallery of the parish church St. Andrä.

 

St. Andrä is located in a multi-ethnic area and describes itself as "a face of church in a multicultural neighbourhood". It is one of the most active churches when it comes to promoting modern art and integration. There, the African Catholic Community of Graz celebrates mass in English every Sunday at 12 o'clock and La Comunidad Latina celebrates mass in Spanish every first Sunday of each month. Not everybody was happy about St. Andrä's interpretation of hospitality. Some parish members left because to them the sound of African drums was incompatible with worship service. St. Andrä has chosen to be an open church. Or to quote the parish priest: "Jesus is international." (via)



photographs by Michael Brus via