In trying to get back to a sense of normalcy again, we must all agree that a lot has happened. People have lost their lives. Children have whisked themselves away from family responsibilities into distant places to ensure their parent’s safety. Plans have been shifted, changed, and postponed. Jobs, relationships, and several other opportunities have evaporated into thin air. Universities, Shops, and Restaurants have turned down services. Schools and other institutions have closed their doors and turned towards the digital. And we are now learning new ways of treating ourselves and each other as we find better alternatives to our lives. In the spirit of wanting to take a new leave, I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I forced myself to remember. I reflected on my past. I traveled through certain corners of my mind I had completely cut off for reasons I cannot say out loud without risking putting myself in an uncomfortable position.
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by Guest Author | Stories
Before I proceed, you should know that I am Black and a first-generation immigrant. Therefore, it is not completely lost on me that my feelings on this subject of identity will be met with resistance, disagreeing opinions and questions, all of which may emerge because “Today, I feel German” will be considered by many an atypical declaration. It is not every day a man who was born and raised at the heels of Mount Fako, Cameroon audaciously declares himself part of a giant colonialist nation, Germany, in such a public format. These are not feelings I am allowed to claim ownership of, because possessing such opinions can easily be mistaken for the denouncement of one’s own traditions and heritage in the quest to insert one’s self onto a culture that has no place for one’s sensibilities and difference.
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by Guest Author | People, Stories
photo: Slawomir Urban – URBANKAMERA
Straight men like football, basketball, and rugby. Gay men like gymnastics, ice-skating and yoga. These stereotypes can be right 60ish% of the time (this number is made up). But in some cases, they are so, so wrong and harmful. Stereotypes are a tricky thing. Of course, they help our silly human brains process information quicker and make faster decisions (though not necessarily better decisions). But when it comes to human interactions, your easy stereotypes can feel like a cage to the person you apply it too.
With the mission to show the world that stereotypes should be second-guessed in the case of sports and sexual preferences, the Berlin Bruisers take a strong stand on the field. The gay rugby team’s recent campaign – with the slogan “Fight For Being You” – was published on Facebook, Instagram and in print. When it came out, it caused quite some controversy (especially with straight men), which made me notice it.
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by Claudio | Stories
photos: Dario-Jacopo Laganà.
Despite Berlin’s ever changing face throughout history, the city has always been a destination for people searching for a place where they can truly be themselves and find their own identity. In times when the way we create and perceive our own image is so affected by everyone’s perfectly polished presence on digital platforms, anyone situating him or herself outside the norm might experience this search even more as a burden. This is why open, liberal places like Berlin help us all the more to find out who we really are and how we want the world to see us.
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by Andy | Art, People, Stories
In the time that we have all spent in Berlin either as visitors or residents, how much energy have we invested in getting to know the city? What could we say about it, that could be insightful and at the same time descriptive of its true identity? Do we even know the city we so passionately talk about?
Brenda Strohmaier’s and Alexander S. Wolf’s “Der Berlin-Code” tackles this -oddly- rarely addressed issue by creating a very special guide for anyone curious to find out a little bit more about Berlin’s core identity. What makes this book unique is that it transcends the usual questions “Where to go?”, “What to do?” etc. as well as the well-known discontent about how Berlin used to be and how it currently is. Instead, it delves into themes that cannot be approached by a simple Google search.
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by Nikos | Books
photos: Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert
Gender, identity and self-expression are very delicate, intimate subjects to address.
The true kaleidoscope of human identities, facets and preferences is as diverse as there are people on this planet. Beyond a world of black and white, there is a whole range of color, which makes life interesting. Yet we all want the same thing: recognition for who we are and what we feel.
And to get said recognition, visibility is crucial.
“Gender concerns anybody and is part of every identity,” says Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert, author of the new book ‘Gender as a Spectrum’.
The photographer teamed up with entertainer, artist and Transgender activist Kaey, and portrayed people from Berlin and various places on the planet. All of them are a facet of the kaleidoscope, moving between the polarity of gender. For over two years Ohlert worked on this book with Kaey, capturing people in an authentic, emotional way that is both raw and rare. While Ohlert took the photographs, Kaey interviewed the portrayed people, so the reader gets to know the personalities behind the picture even better, learning about their personal self-concepts, self-definitions, views and wishes.
And maybe the reader starts asking himself these questions, finding answers about himself, or maybe just learning about the people that are all with him on the kaleidoscope of being a person.
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by Yasmin | Books, Photos
Semra Sevin, Berlin Reflection Glienicker Brücke, 2011
The search for a belonging, a definition of home is a constant topic in a globalized world. Berlin is a melting pot where people from all over the world cross each other, meet each other and – in the best case – love each other. The lifelong question of identity is a matter even amplified when different cultural backgrounds come into the mix of emotions. The distance that emerges over time to one’s ‘original homeland’ (which is maybe just a question of definition) is a space in which sometimes romanticized, sometimes critical perspectives reach the surface.
The beauty of it all is a frequent subject in art.
“From Here To Me” is a project and an exhibition where eight artists from Balkan states exhibit their work in which the aesthetics of Berlin as a bond with their personal homeland are displayed and merged into one. The contributing artists are not only from the Balkan states but also from Greece and from Turkey. They all succeed in creating a strong insight to their inner feelings through the outer arts. Read on…
by Yasmin | Art, Galleries, Photos
