Photo Essay : No Land For Love. ( Exhibited in Amsterdam, Paris, Dordrecht, and Haarlem )

This project introduces the particular, fragile and mostly undocumented situation of LGBTQ asylum seekers. 
European countries are relatively accepting towards LGBTQ+ community. Yet, the fight against the preconceptions and violence these people fled from, might be a lengthy process. These women and men had to flee their countries, facing violent discrimination that started within their own families. They were sometimes forced into marriage or raped by a close relative, forced to leave their houses, their town, finally their country, and often their children. Frequently, they had to escape from human trafficking. Because of their cultural and/or religious background, and because of the traumatic experiences they went through, it is very difficult and distressing for them to talk openly about their sexual orientation. Thus, they often fail to make a clear case to the authorities, who which tend to overlook this essential point in assessing their situations. Dedicated foundations across Europe are doing a remarkable work, providing orientation, social and legal support, and taking action for a change in the authorities attitude towards them. Every asylum seeker has to endure expectation, uncertainty, precariousness, for one, two, sometimes up to seven years. In addition to this, members of the LGBTQ community have to put up with the discriminations from their own fellow citizens, the lack of knowledge among the european society regarding the hardships they fled from, and the fear of disclosing their sexual orientation. 

In these exhibitions, alongside each portrait, a testimony was exhibited. Some were brief, just a few lines, while others stretched over hundreds of words. These testimonies held immense significance for the events. Despite some refugees still under investigation and posing incognito, they courageously shared their stories.