Joel Schalit

Branding Statelessness (Reference Version)

Throughout the three years I’ve been back in Europe, I’ve made a point of documenting visual signs of the refugee crisis, by photographing pro-migrant street art, tagging and graffiti. In today’s edition of Souciant, I reprise my Randomizer role, with four shots taken in Belgium, France and Italy. Included is an explanation of my personal connection to the subject matter.

See Branding Statelessness. The piece begins with this photo, which I took in Brussels, in late September. It was scrawled on a wall not far from my friend Arthur’s apartment, in Matongé. I like these kinds of pieces. They’re a nice way of combining op-ed and travel writing with photojournalism. In between composing longer analytical pieces, they help me  generate new ideas.

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Neukölln, one block off of Karl Marx Strasse. Berlin, August 010.

Jazeera means “island” in Arabic. Brussels, November 2009.

Take Me to Your Leader

I was surprised to see the visage of a US president other than Obama. That is, a portrait of the only American head of state of equal iconographic significance. Painted on the surface of a section of the Berlin Wall, positioned outside the entrance to the European Union’s Brussels headquarters, Kennedy’s distant look particularly stood out.