Seclude

This selection showcases over a decade of documenting queer migration, focusing on gay and trans men seeking asylum. It captures their waiting, uncertainty, hopes, and, most importantly, the resilience of community and unity in shared exile.

Concealed.

This selection showcases over a decade of documenting queer migration, focusing on gay and trans men seeking asylum. It captures their waiting, uncertainty, hopes, and, most importantly, the resilience of community and unity in shared exile.

The project began in 2010 in pre-war Damascus, Syria, initially focusing on gay Iraqi men fleeing militias targeting them for their sexuality after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. It later expanded to Beirut, central Turkey, Istanbul, and, more recently, Western Europe—Denmark, Germany, France, Norway, and Sweden.

Spanning multiple countries, my work traces the journeys of displacement, years-long transit, and the formation of new communities in host nations. The images capture the limbo of waiting, the anxieties of the unknown, and moments of resilience. A diptych from the sub-series SEXugees highlights survival sex work among Syrian gay and trans refugees in Istanbul.

Condensing 12+ years of work into 20 images is a challenge, but I hope this selection provides insight into the breadth of the project. It underscores that photojournalism on queer communities need not rely on stereotypes of hypersexualization, partying, or intimacy, which is all too often how I see our community being represented, as if that's all of a person's identity.

Though their sexuality and gender identity made them targets, throwing their lives into turmoil, these are just facets of who they are—elements that connect them but do not define them entirely.