Fotografie
25. February 2024 - 16. June 2024
Maziar Moradi: I become German
Opening: Saturday, February 24th, 7 p.m.

No title. Aus: Ich werde deutsch, 2008–2013
No title. From: I become German, 2008 – 2013
© Maziar Moradi
‘How can integration be accomplished?’ In times of elevated levels of forced migration, this question has become a political issue that is being discussed between the opposing poles of a culture of welcome and lockdown. Migration however is by no means a new phenomenon, but an integral part of German DNA, especially since the economic miracle. But the current debate still ignores the experience of migrants who have already been living here for a long time. The photo series ‘I become German’ by Maziar Moradi is having a closer look at the issue.

In large-format images, he recreates the experiences of people who left their home countries to start a new life in Germany, or who have been born in Germany as the children of migrant parents, and who have long been a part of German society. The opulent scenes present moments and episodes of their ‘becoming German,’ showing the adversities, personal accomplishments, and the milestones of a lengthy process. And nobody really knows when that process is complete. Moradi’s work is not so much documental but conceptual. His pictures appear like film-stills, plucked from the flow of time. What exactly happened is sometimes explained in text written by the protagonists of the stories, and sometimes the interpretation is entirely up to the observer.