One camera
many stories
“I didn’t have time to think. I took my laptop and phone and nothing else. I felt scared the minute I left my home – I’d never felt so much pressure. I’m sad that I left everything. I’m sad for Afghanistan. But I’m so happy that I’m alive".
— Ramin Rahman, one of the co-founders of the Suitcase Project, is an Afghan photographer. He fled Kabul in August 2021, when the Taliban took the city.
the project
The Suitcase Project is a long-term analogue photography project by and for refugees and displaced people across Europe and around the world.
A suitcase, containing a camera, a roll of film and a diary, passes from person to person. Each temporary owner of the suitcase takes photographs and writes in the diary, before passing it on.
In a world where new crises continuously dominate headlines, often overshadowing past events, this project leverages traditional 35mm film and paper journals to encourage a slower, more contemplative reflection on past and ongoing stories.
The project also transforms the subjects of news reporting - those who leave their homes, fleeing war or violence or seeking better lives - into the storytellers themselves, sharing their experiences and expressing what "home" means to them now.
See and read their stories here.