We Asked Refugees to Document Their Everyday Lives with Disposable Cameras

Photo by Saleh

This article was originally published on VICE Germany

In February 2015, we gave six disposable cameras to six refugees who were at that time living in Berlin. Each was asked to document their daily life in 27 photos. We called this project AUGEN-BLICK, which in German means “Blink of an Eye”.

We came up with this project because we believe that, now more than ever, it is crucial to stop concentrating on what separates us and instead focus on what brings us together. Even though the European refugee crisis has been a hot topic for a while now, to the two of us it only felt real once we started working on this series. We hope that it will also gave you an insight into the everyday lives of these people.

You can see more work by Halea and Francis here

Naheed Mirzad (26), from Afghanistan – She was the only female to take part in our project. Most of the other women we talked to were rather reserved. Naheed has been living in Berlin for almost a year now and used to take lots of photographs back home.

Saleh, from Syria – Unfortunately, we never found out his last name. He was transferred elsewhere after the dissolution of the refugee camp where we met him.

Huseynaga Gasanov (15), from Azerbaijan – Huseynaga came to Berlin with his family when he was 11. Soon after, he started an internship in a theatre and began drawing caricatures. We had to give him a second camera, because the first one was stolen from his refugee camp.

Sayed Omruddin Hussaini (20), from Afghanistan – It was his first time holding a camera so he had his girlfriend help him. They met in Berlin.

Siwan Suliman (20), from Syria – He’s lived in Berlin for nine months and works in an off-license. A lot of his pictures are green because Berlin’s parks remind him of his hometown.

Zymer Zeqiri (15), from Kosovo – After a short stay in the refugee reception camp in Berlin’s Freie Universität, Zymer and his family were deported because authorities decided they had come to Europe for financial reasons.