No Stranger Place is an ongoing international photo project about refugees and locals who are sharing a home. It portrays these newly created family, friendship and flatshare „constellations“ through intimate domestic portraits and interviews.
In September 2015, photographer Aubrey Wade and Stjepan Sedlar set out to document locals and refugees living together in Berlin, initiating No Stranger Place. The project was born out of a desire to respond, as so many volunteers and ordinary people had, to the unfolding European refugee crisis. Over the following three years the project team, including writer/producer Nadine Alfa and writer Clémentine Baron, met inspiring people from all walks of life across five European countries.
Now we are working on a new chapter and are looking for people to take part! Have you been affected by the war in Ukraine or been forced to flee your home for other reasons? Are you hosting refugees in your home? Then we would love to hear from you! Contact us here.
No Stranger Place is about relationships and what becomes possible when people form them.
The photographs show people just like ourselves. In their stories, we discover what individuals have in common. Their shared values are stronger and matter more than their differences.
Chaim Jellinek says “integration is not one-sided work, it’s a process from both sides.” When people bring trust and a degree of curiosity to that process, both sides are enriched by the experience.
While the refugees get a safe home, new friends and family, as well as a head start learning the language, everyone benefits. The hosts, too, have their preconceptions challenged and learn about new cultures and ideas. As Edgar Rai tells us:
What my children have learned through living with Bilal and Amr, it’s invaluable.
The people in these portraits are making connections that bridge cultural divides and language barriers, even as some European governments construct physical and legislative obstacles to stop refugees from working towards a safer future. We hope these portraits and stories celebrate, and remind us, what is possible when people choose to respond out of trust instead of fear. The team has traveled across Germany, Austria, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom and met inspiring people from all walks of life. Here you will find a selection of their stories!
Take part and share your story
We will launch a new chapter of No Stranger Place in 2022 and are looking for people to take part. Have you been affected by the war in Ukraine or been forced to flee your home for other reasons? We want to hear from you!
We are based in Berlin and travelling throughout Germany, Poland and Moldova, working to make No Stranger Place as inclusive as possible by reflecting diverse experiences, nationalities and backgrounds.
We are planning new exhibitions and will publish the stories we gather on our website and in the media later this year, thereby giving our audience the opportunity to learn about the experiences of both the hosts and those forced to flee.
To take part, or find out more, please send us a brief email or text message. You can also call us. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact:
- projects@aubreywade.com
- +49 176 8817 9192
THANK YOU
To Anna Caroline Türk for facilitating our work as a team, to web designer Markus Wolf for giving No Stranger Place a beautiful home online, and to all the people at UNHCR who supported the project and shared our vision. Thank you also to all the local organisations who helped us with introductions. You can find out more about the work amazing work they do here, or even get involved yourself. Most of all, the team would like to thank everyone who opened their homes and shared their story.