Roman Kutzowitz
It can be more difficult for a person who has a complex cultural heritage due to a fragmented biography to find their place in society.
When character influences such as strict Islamic values and Western norms are equally at play in an identity process, inner conflicts can arise.
Hamudi was born in Iraq in 1992 and came into the world with a cleft palate. Together with his family he fled to Berlin, where he spent his childhood. After having committed armed robberies, he was brought to Iraq by his father and forced into marriage. He managed to escape from there and was then imprisoned for six months in Germany. In the meantime, he has undergone a fourth operation on his cleft palate. Just like his appearance, his social surroundings have changed considerably.
Shortly after his release from a youth detention centre, I met Hamudi in Berlin-Neukölln and got to know him to be an impulsive and rebellious person. I photographed him, and thus the process he is in, for a long period of time. Within two and a half years, a photo series was created that found its form through the subject.
The photoseries consists of portraits, observed scenes and pictures of biographical places with which I aim to address the complex notion of identity.
