I was raised in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus. In the camp, I'm not Palestinian. In Damascus, I'm labeled as a refugee. Wherever I go, I'm treated as a stranger.
I don't have a way out, neither a passport nor a family.
I never had a home.
I'm afraid of being stuck here, though I constantly seek reasons to stay. I find myself possessed with loose ends. The love and intimacy we share in a deserted place is a layer of poetry that allows us to survive in the midst of uncertainty and daily trauma.
The events that started in 2011 are still present in my mind.
We have lost the smell of the land we love.
نشأتُ في مخيم اليرموك للاجئين الفلسطينيين خارج دمشق.
في المخيم، لست فلسطينياً. في دمشق، أنا ابن المخيم.
أنّى ذهبتُ أُحاكَم غريباً.
لا أملكُ وسائل نجاة. لا جواز سفر، ولا عائلة.
لم أمتلك يوماً ما أطلقُ عليه البيت.
أخافُ أن يأسرني المكان، ثم أبحث عن سببٍ للبقاء فيه،
فأجد نفسي مَمسوساً بالحنين.
الحب والحميمية اللذان نتشاركهما في مساحاتنا المؤقتة ليسا إلا وشاحاً من الشِعر يحمينا من الضجيج ويلفُّ جراحنا اليومية.
ما بدأ في 2011 وانحسر بعد سنين، يستمر في رأسي.
لقد خسرنا -على الأقل- رائحة البلاد التي نحب.
Ameen Abo Kaseem is a Palestinian-Syrian documentary photographer and cinematographer living in Damascus. He will graduate in 2023 from the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts where he studies visual arts. Ameen started using photography in 2016 as a way to communicate and express himself, and his work focuses on himself and his family, friends, and community, looking at toxic lifestyles and methods of survival. He is also currently working on his first cinematic debut.
This work is part of a larger project about memory.
Ameen Abo Kaseem is a Palestinian-Syrian documentary photographer and cinematographer living in Damascus. He will graduate in 2023 from the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts where he studies visual arts. Ameen started using photography in 2016 as a way to communicate and express himself, and his work focuses on himself and his family, friends, and community, looking at toxic lifestyles and methods of survival. He is also currently working on his first cinematic debut.
This work is part of a larger project about memory.