History in its broadest aspect is a record of man’s migrations from one environment to another.

The simple pronouncement of the term "refugee" evokes multiple interpretations, received ideas, hypotheses, judgments. Depending on the refugees’ geographical origin, on their social characteristics or education level, or indeed on the political perspective of the people referring to the refugees, a fairly broad spectrum of images comes to mind. These images are often clichés, reductive, even erroneous, and contribute to a latent incomprehension of the phenomenon of migration, despite it being a founding feature of our common history.

For a year, through various associations supported by the "Mateneen" ("together") programme, I mixed with a large number of refugees from different backgrounds and who had arrived in Luxembourg a few days before, months before or years before. As a result of the encounters, I decided to focus on five of them. I accompanied each one at their own pace, in their own way, with their style, and according to the themes that inspired me.

Five stories of refugees in Luxembourg with different destinies, that I have attempted to link to a story bigger than each one individually: Farnaz and the Iranian poetry of Shiraz, Nisreen and the Palestine torn from her heart, Yannick and the Cameroon colonial past, one which haunts an entire continent, Khalid and his relationship with water, and Yasha and his deep Christian faith in a Muslim country. There are as many stories as there are refugees. Here are five, unequal, banal and singular all at the same time.