Switzerland
Dolce Amaro
May - June 2019
During the month of May 2019, thanks to the prompt availability and interest of the S.O.S Ticino association, I taught a participatory photography course to 6 young immigrant boys and girls in Ticino.
Eritrea, Afghanistan and Pakistan for a couple of years on the Ticino territory, each with their own experiences and their own journey.
In Ticino they have found their new refuge, a place where they can have opportunities and be able to live in a peaceful way trying to adapt in the best way. The situation is not always easy, being however far from their lands and having to confront every day with all the daily difficulties of the case.
They are people who want to have a quiet life, be able to learn and improve the local language, be able to integrate, be able to make friends and be able to work.
They are all aware that in Ticino they can find all this and they are also aware that the journey is not easy. There are obstacles, we talk about patience, about lack of freedom, we also talk about discrimination.
They are personal stories of experiences that everyone could share in the group during this Photovoice course.
Analyzing these situations, trying to stimulate each participant creatively, giving them the basics of photography and how to tell a story with images, be they symbolic or not, the young boys / girls were able to capture photographs of their daily newspaper, of the their lives and their feelings.
Sweet bitter wants to be a photographic project that represents this duality of their living. The opportunities and the roads that open up, the help and support they receive, and on the other hand this feeling lonely, this continuous having to be strong, this always trying to be positive and have confidence that everything will go well, this living without the family and friends from their country.
Experiences that have been represented in this selection of photographs that the participants took during the course.
