There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
Martha Graham
Prince Emrah at Silver Future Emrah, a non-binary person from Turkmenistan, after a show. She found her healing in belly dancing after arriving in Berlin, and has since danced on the city's biggest queer stages, and at weddings.Backyard Ivy Suryani's Body “According to sharia laws in Malaysia, a trans* person born in a Muslim family belongs to prison. This is our faith,” said Suryani. For years she passed as Hindu. She fled Malaysia, and after a four-year asylum process in Denmark ended up seeking asylum a second time, in Germany.Mona Lisa Gabo Gazing “At my internship, people want to teach me coding, but I don't want that. I want to start studying European law,” Gabo told me. Gabo is non-binary, from Yemen; the name is a pseudonym we agreed on for the book.Reenactment of an Arrival From a video shoot in Berlin: a group of gender-nonconforming, trans* and queer refugee and asylum-seeking artists re-enact their arrival in Germany.Mirna in Her Kitchen She fled the war in Syria with her family. When she then came out as trans*, her family rejected her; she now lives in an apartment provided for LGBTQ+ teens.Silver Future Emrah's Kitchen Self-Portrait With Julie's Makeup I made this self-portrait after a makeup workshop in the dorm reserved for trans and queer refugees and asylum seekers at risk. A friend I had come to know by photographing her saw how raw my own attempt was and decided to paint me herself. We went to her kitchen at sunset. Her shadow is in the picture now, literally and otherwise.Fatal Flash Malaysian Dancer Malaysian Peacock Dancer (I Chose Art to Protect Myself) A non-binary person from Malaysia, near the dorm reserved for LGBTQIA+ refugees and asylum seekers at risk.The 15th Home A refugee at her 15th home in Germany. A long-term flat is nearly impossible to find in Berlin.Keil Li at Patricia's Lap “I started doing makeup once I needed to cover a bruise after my father beat me. My mom gave me her concealer,” Keil Li, a gender-nonconforming person from Libya, once told me.“She Is My Mom” (Dormmates) A queer refugee from Afghanistan rests his head in the lap of his lesbian friend from Iran.Drying Rack Keil Li Gazing Keil Li in the Changing Room Prince Emrah at SO36 Self-Potrait in Prince Emrah's Costume Me, in my friend Prince Emrah's costume. She is a belly dancer, a beauty-and-wellness student, and the mother of a collective that celebrates trans and queer refugee and asylum-seeking artists in Berlin. The picture grew out of our friendship and our collaboration.At the End of Our Walk The City We Are in (Tempelhofer Feld) Tempelhofer Feld: the largest inner-city open space in the world and Berlin's biggest park. It was once an airport, and more recently the site of a refugee camp.Roller Kite Hair To Donate Mother Tattoo “It is too late now,” he told me, about his mother accepting him as a trans man.Waterfall in Viktoriapark The Artist Before seeking asylum in Germany she completed two BAs at respected universities in Turkey, one in fine arts and one in art history.Prince Emrah With Headpiece Dancers at Their Break Noéline and Julie, dancers, in a Berlin bar before their shows. Noéline la Bouche is a burlesque performer, singer and model living in Berlin, German with West African roots; Julie Dancer is a transgender refugee from Malaysia who sought asylum in Berlin.Tight Heels The Sun Sets on Beautiful Ones A refugee whose parents do not know she is a trans woman.Mirna Whipping View From the 18th Floor The view from the apartment where Suryani lives. The rent is covered by the government.Keil Li at Mc Donald's In Prince Emrah's Bedroom Before the Party Keil Li Divõn at HKW Winter Ecosystem The Starry Night Shoes Under a Bridge Cherry Petals Construction Site Shugar Elina in the Changing Room Suryani With Her Plants Vandalized “Memorial To Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism” Reflection in Museum Island At Home Coals for Hookah
Come Get Your Honey, 2018–. Skabt i Berlin sammen med queer, trans og kønsnonkonforme flygtninge og asylansøgere; næsten halvtreds mennesker deltog, og omkring femten af dem er portrætteret her, nogle genkendeligt og andre ikke, blandt fotografier af selve byen.