Visual Representations of Refugees in German Media 2010 - 2020
By: Cassidy Chreene Whittle, M.S. GMC - German
Advisors: Dr. Britta Kallin, Associate Professor of German, and
Dr. Richard Utz, Chair and Professor, Literature, Media, and Communication
"We Refugees" Photo Project
Der Spiegel / September 15, 2015/ curated by Jan Nikolai Nelles and Nora Al-Badri
In the midst of the hundreds of thousands of refugees traveling to Europe and many news organizations deeming this surge of migration the 2015 European Refugee Crisis, two Berlin-based artists worked directly with refugees who had made it to Germany to share their personal family photos and photos from the journey with the faces of subjects purposefully blocked by large circles. Der Spiegel published an interview with Jan Nikolai Nelles and Nora Al-Badri along with a photo series of 15 images from the total collection.
When asked about the motivation for the project, Al-Badri responded they wanted to create something to counter the "refugee porn," which she explained further as "the refugee porn currently staged by many professional image producers who can take pictures of crowded boats from a safe distance or have the contents of suitcases neatly lined up - and yet only reproduce stereotypes of refugees." She went on to describe that she and Nelles "wanted to find a way to give space to the perspective of those affected and asked ourselves whether people themselves do not carry documents of their escape experiences with them" and were able to accomplish this through many of the refugees having mobile phones or by bringing family photos along for the journey.
The title of the project "We Refugees" adds an additional connection to the plight of refugees through its referencing of the 1943 essay "We Refugees" by German philosopher and writer, Hannah Arendt. Hannah Arendt was a refugee during WWII and managed to escape a concentration camp in France after being persecuted by the Nazis for her Jewish faith. She was able to immigrate to the United States and became one of the most renowned philosophers of the 20th century.
This creative project takes a unique and desperately needed approach to documenting the European Refugee Crisis by shifting the focus merely from the now and new syndicates sending out photojournalists to locations to capture the action without engaging with any subjects. Through their partnership and open communication with their subjects, Nelles and Al-Badri are able to share deeply intimate images of some refugee's personal journeys and their stories up until they were decided to flee.
Der Spiegel is also uniquely qualified as a news publication to publish such an artistic piece, in contrast, to merely reporting on the news due to their long-standing inclusion of the arts and culture throughout their publication.