is an ongoing visual research into the perception of migration within the Schengen Area and the assumptions and biases that shape how we look at people who migrate.

The project portrays a range of places and situations along migration routes through Europe, and the people who find themselves there.

By combining different images, the work explores possible connections and similarities and questions familiar categories. It examines what we think we can infer from someone’s appearance, behaviour or surroundings, and the role that existing images, narratives and terminology play in this. Words such as migrant, refugee, newcomer, expat or local are not neutral, but evoke ideas about origin, privilege, belonging and freedom of movement.

Small gestures, chance encounters and seemingly banal details become part of a larger visual whole that also searches for what we have in common: the need for food, sleep, safety, affection, dignity and freedom.

The title Alle Menschen (werden Brüder) refers to Friedrich Schiller’s words “Alle Menschen werden Brüder” from Ode to Joy, used in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Its melody became the anthem of Europe. The work examines the tension between the idea of a Europe built on freedom and connection and the borders, divisions and inequalities that determine who is able to move freely and who is not.