FOCUSING ON INTERCULTURAL ITALY

The spotlight is on Issa. Behind him, you can see a blurry silhouette of a person smiling: his partner Lydia. Both are part of a photo and video documentary made by Mohamed Keita, a 27-year-old photojournalist based in Rome, who aims to interview 50 multicultural families in Italy to provide a panorama of our current society.

BY MOHAMED KEITA

September 13, 2020, 12:00 CET | Updated on October 12, 2020, 11:09 CET

Photo Credits: Mohamed Keita 

LEGGI IL TESTO IN ITALIANO
“During my little time making these photographs and the short interview I did with them, it was interesting because they made me understand that there are a husband and a wife in the house, not people from a different color.” Mohamed Keita Issa, Rome Italy, 2020
"Il poco tempo che ho trascorso con loro per fare queste fotografie e una breve intervista, è stato interessante perché mi hanno fatto capire che in casa ci sono un marito e una moglie, non persone di colore diverso" – Mohamed Keita
“Happiness does not cost, but not everyone has it because it is easy to lose it ...” / Mohammed Keita, Lydia, Rome Italy 2020
"La felicità non costa, ma non tutti ce l'hanno perché è facile perderla..." – Mohamed Keita
"Nowadays, life is complicated, but I have seen these intercultural couples, and they have stayed with their smiles, something that I didn't see in this period in the world." Mohamed Keita Issa + Lydia Rome Italy 2020
"Oggi la vita è complicata, ma ho visto queste coppie interculturali, sono rimaste con i loro sorrisi, cosa che non ho visto in questo periodo nel mondo" – Mohamed Keita
“Some people who love each other and decided to raise a family together so often, before reaching their goals, have many obstacles to overcome. On the other hand, while accepting these sacrifices, they are fighting not only for them but also for those of the next generations.” - Roberta, Rome Italy, 2020
"Le persone che si amano e hanno deciso di crescere una famiglia insieme spesso, prima di raggiungere i loro obiettivi, hanno molti ostacoli da superare. Ma nell'accettare questi sacrifici, loro lottano non solo per sé stessi, ma anche per le prossime generazioni" – Mohamed Keita
“Keep going forward.” Soumaila, Rome, Italy, 2020
"Continua ad andare avanti" – Soumaila
“Nobody decides how to be born or in which part of the world you born.”  Roberta + Soumaila Rome Italy 2020
"Nessuno decide come nascere o in quale parte del mondo si nasce" – Mohamed Keita

Interview with Mohamed Keita

Black City Stories: Why did you start researching this topic? Why do you think it is important?

Mohamed Keita: Intercultural families are few [in Italy], but they can teach us many useful things. These families are teaching me a lot because they are also very different. Not because they live in a different world from ours, but because they know many things about diversity. They have succeeded in erasing some barriers of our current society. Thus, this research is like a school for me.

Black City Stories: So far, what have you learned from this research?

Mohamed Keita: When we speak about diversity, there is not only Black or white. There are intercultural families and intercultural children, who are in the middle, not only belonging to the white and not even just Black identity.
And I have realised that many people from different cultures or with mixed identities many times don’t want to choose one identity. These people want to connect with their different identities—and to be seen as human beings.

Black City Stories: What is your personal advice to others on how to start this kind of research in their own countries?

Mohamed Keita: The advice I can give is to avoid talking for others, to try to listen to others and add your idea of what they have said. Don’t research only to find the right material but go deep to see the real keys. For the research,
there are so many ways to go deep. My approach is to start from my idea and share with my knowledge and, through that knowledge, arrive at a different understanding. This action helps me a lot to have other experiences while searching, and it also allows me to meet people who tell me their stories very freely.
Thus, I invite different people to deepen their knowledge and experiences, starting from other people in order not to stop at their understanding or personal experiences. It’s true we have something to give to others. But at the same time, others also have something to give to us.

This photo series is supported by the Stars4Media pilot project.

Intercultural

“Intercultural describes communities in which there are a deep understanding and respect for all cultures”, writes Paula Schriefer, President and CEO at Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning in Colorado, US, on the institute’s website in 2016. According to her, “intercultural communication focuses on the mutual exchange of ideas and cultural norms and the development of deep relationships. In an intercultural society, no one is left unchanged because everyone learns from one another and grows together”.

Mohamed Keita is a 27-year-old photojournalist from the Ivory Coast, based in Rome. In 2017, Keita founded a photo lab for street children in Mali, and he has been involved with a centre for minors in Rome, Civico ZeroA, for many years. Keita has plans to keep working on his photo and video documentary until he reaches fifty intercultural families in Italy. His aim is to publish a book, launch a website, and organise exhibitions.