Origins

In a lifelong attempt to define the concept of Culture and how it shapes itself through time and space, Origins is an open question to the world on what defines us as individuals from an anthropological perspective and how it could visually be represented.

This series disembowels the different cultural layers embodied by a single person and shows the different cultural identities one could carry; The selves are everyday overlapping with each other, using  the correct layout to occupy more space in reality or being repressed for the sake of adaptability to blend in a specific environment. 

Did you ever wonder if a specific cultural artifact, outfit or lunchbox was suited to go to work with ? Do you feel too European in your country of origin or in the opposite way, not enough European while being in Europe? In a specific cityscape, are there places where you feel secure enough to express even more your cultural identities and some spaces where you consider not having the freedom to just be; all of what you are. 

Europe is a melting pot of different cultures of different Origins. Before even coexisting, at which degree do they simply exist? Which tools allow us to shift from one identity to the other? and how do we carry along this legacy in space and time. 

" I am all of that here. I’m this person but also this other person. "

The main goal of Origins is to create a visual conversational space for and with Diasporas living in Europe. It’s for them to feel open, free from any taboo or social pressure to express their cultural identities or talk about the freedom they gained from their culture(s) by living in Europe… Origins shows the diversity of diasporic cultures and includes different religions, genders and non-binary people, from diffrent ages, sexual orientation and socio-economic backgrounds, and not only.  The photographs exhibited are the first question marks of the Médine Tidou’s Origins project. It’s a long term portrait and conceptual photography project in which each person photographed is portrayed in the different ways they culturally identify. The separation between the different selves is the border’s outline of each person's country of origin. In real life borders influence who we are and how we interact with places; among other triggers, borders are the implicit crossline in and between these cultural identities forms of expression.


Kenya, Zimbabwe, Gambia, Saint Lucia, Ouganda identities are shown on these portraits. 


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