Conceptual
Stories, imaginations and life.
Finding the Village
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but what happens when you can’t take your village with you? “Finding the Village” invites you into the world of six South American-born dreamers who moved to Germany’s capital city, started new lives, and birthed a new generation of Berliners.
The two-part series begins with a collection of individual portraits. Each scene created is a tapestry chaotically and beautifully woven from threads of personal identities, journeys, dreams, and sacrifices. It’s here and there. Old home and new home. Past and future. An accompanying photo album anchors the six stories in reality, revealing microcosms of villages cobbled together through chance, proximity and borderless humanity.
"Preeta means 'beloved,' 'dear one,' or 'happy' and is of Sanskrit origin. It is associated with qualities of love, affection, and joy. Over the course of my 47 years, I have learned to enrich these warm qualities that reside within me and to complement them with courage, justice and clarity."
"Cake is celebration, community and sharing. With a candle on, it brightens the days when we celebrate life. Children are new, fresh, and see the best in everyone and the wow in everything. This is how I love, after a turbulent start in life."
“Nadja, ‘flowing water.’ It was the ideal compromise for my Indo-Guyanese father and East German-born mother, but no one outside close family could get the pronunciation quite right. Even the meaning only takes form in my nickname, Nadi. Nobody fully understood what or who I was. Even I didn’t really know. I ended up having the most fitting name for a little girl, born in the ‘land of many waters’, who never seemed to belong in any one place. Going with the flow often becomes key to survival when things in your life suddenly change. Luckily, I was somewhat prepared.”
“Almost every day that passes adds another plot point to the story in my mind that might never be written. It’s mostly because life, uh, finds a way to keep me busy: work, kids… other things. But I haven’t given up on it. At least not completely. It’s an idea sitting in a cocoon, absorbing everything I do, see, learn, and feel. It’s waiting, growing and changing, for its day to emerge.”
"there is a light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness." — Charles Bukowski, The Laughing Heart
"Sometimes the village is more than just people that physically show up, and this is particularly so for so many immigrant parents. Sometimes it comes in the form of being hyper-fixated on maintaining tradition. While we embrace the new, I find myself constantly reaching far within my memory for my late Godmother’s teachings, who also happened to be a midwife, for some familiarity and safety in this beautiful chaos. Finding balance as you navigate the complexity of bringing new life whilst settling into a new city simultaneously can only be sheltered and supported by all the hats previously worn in this life."
Finding the Village
Excerpt from the album.
Imperfection
I asked some people, “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?” Then, staying true to real life, I made it go terribly wrong.
Flight
Opening all the safes in the world
Turning Water to Wine
Invisibility
Super intelligence