“Twenty-three years ago I came to Amsterdam as a refugee from Burkina Faso. I didn’t know anyone and I barely had any money. For three months I slept outside in the Sarphatipark without any place to go. It was summer so luckily it wasn’t too cold but neither did I had much expectations after leaving my homeland behind. Back home I was an actor so after a while I got involved in the acting scene of Amsterdam. Soon I understood that acting wasn’t going to make enough money to provide for a living. I decided to go back to school and get a degree in finance and now I am working in a bank.”
“What is the most important lesson you have learned from your journey?”
“To let life carry you instead of trying to carry life itself, it’s to heavy anyways.”
''We had a complicated relationship. She had a tough childhood. When she was still a baby, her mother tried to jump out of the window while holding her. As a result, she wasn't affectionate with me. I was nine when I made my first portrait of her. She had the most...