Petit-Château
In 2025, I completed a thesis on the asylum procedure in Belgium, where the recognition of an application for international protection relies primarily on a personal narrative. This narrative must be coherent, chronological, and verifiable, leaving little room for more fragmented, sensitive, or non-linear ways of telling one’s story. In this context, exiled people are often led to adapt or recompose their lived experiences, which can weaken and fragment their relationship to their own identity. Based on this observation, I wanted to explore in what ways photography could open a more free narrative space, capable of contributing to a process of identity reconstruction. I led a workshop at the Fedasil centre of Petit-Château with residents, to whom I gave disposable cameras with a simple instruction: “You have 36 photos to tell me who you are”. The images were then looked at and discussed together during individual interviews, allowing memories, perceptions, and narratives to emerge that differ from those usually expected. Many thanks to Noé, Joelis & Xavier, Razia, Mohamed & Bountouraby, Mathias for their images, their stories, and their involvement throughout the workshop.
