Verwurzelung and Migration

Hellersdorf, Berlin, Germany
2025

Participatory project created specifically for Hellersdorf, Berlin, an old GDR neighborhood shaped by recent migration and post-fascist violence. A mixed group of neighbors and visitors met weekly to create botanical imprints of the disappearing green space known as "Place Internationale", sharing stories of migration and rootedness through plant-based elements and metaphors.

The prints on paper and fabric were then painted, woven together and embroidered. Through this activity, the group created a protected space of belonging where people with migration backgrounds and Germans alike could exchange their stories of migration, cultural backgrounds and hopes for the future.

Verwurzelung und Migration was carried out in 2023–24 as part of the nGbK’s ‘Classroom of the Future’ project and was funded by the Boulevard Kastanienallee Quarter Management as part of the Social Cohesion programme run by the Senate Department for Urban Development, Construction and Housing.

Participants

Razeq Hosseini, Sultan Mahmoud, Sayed Massih, Ami Bogin, Clara Caspar, Jihad Issa, Gudrun Ingratubun, Gholam Ali, Amaranta Sánchez, Manuela Garcia, Christine Migura, Annabelle Thorausch, Nawid Timori, Daniel Nikolaeva. Juliana Torres Acevedo, Santiago Torres Acevedo, Walter Acevedo Valencia, Javier Blanco Nuñez, Andrea P. Clavijo Gutiérrez, Madeleine Narváez Díaz, Maria Angelica Orjuela Ramirez, Ana Maria Villa, Andi Chapetón, Rosmery Schoenborn, Luis Felipe Riveros Latorre, Sebastian Schroth Lopez, Jerónimo Vileikis, Ela Tobar Andrango, Carmen Angulo.

Images by Juan Camilo Alfonso