Abdulazez Dukhan – sharing refugee stories through the lens of kindness and hope

By Benjamin Mason

Abdulazez Dukhan is a talented photographer from Syria telling the stories of refugees to audiences in Belgium and beyond, shifting the narrative and bringing about change for those forced to flee. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency sat down to hear about what’s next for Abdulazez, and how hope, determination and small acts of kindness are key to welcoming and including refugees in their new homes.

Abdulazez’s journey into photography and storytelling began with three key ingredients – hope, determination and kindness. All with one aim – to bring about change for refugees in their new homes. Having fled Syria in 2015, for Abdulazez the first seed of hope came from within:

“It has been always hope. I think when you realize that this situation is not going to change unless you try to change it, it’s a very interesting moment…You don’t know whether what’s happened is actually just one line, in a paragraph, in a page, in a story, in a book…you don’t know what’s going to happen afterwards.”

As he waited for the decision on his asylum claim in Greece, it was Abdulazez’s own hope and drive, combined with the kindness of strangers, that led him to start amplifying the refugee voices that too often go unheard.

Abdulazez began talking to other refugees in the Reception & Identification Centre, and documenting their stories with his old phone camera. He also began supporting volunteer aid workers with translation.

As a token of thanks, one of the volunteers gifted Abdulazez a new digital camera – an act of kindness that gave him the tools to elevate his storytelling and photo-journalism. The powerful images on his Facebook page Through Refugee Eyes immediately began reaching and influencing a wider audience.

“The messages, photography, the storytelling, it was reaching out to people, and that gave me so much hope, and so much positive energy that – wow – what I’m doing is doing something, and there is a change based on that. I kept trying to approach things differently, I tried to understand from both sides what’s happening.”

In 2017, Abdulazez and his family moved to Belgium as part of a European Union (EU) relocation scheme. By then, Through Refugee Eyes had blossomed into a vast online network of readers and supporters, and Abdulazez was able to connect with supportive locals.

“I had friends who were very patient with me, trying to teach me…This is honestly the part that I always try to push more locals to do – the main thing I’d say is, look, search if there’s a refugee in your neighbourhood, and try the magic that happens when you just say some nice words to them, make them feel welcome.”

In 2020, Abdulazez launched his most ambitious photography project yet – 50 Humans. The powerful collection of portraits tell the stories of 50 people with refugee backgrounds across Belgium. It focuses on the new lives they are forging in their new home, and on their hopes and dreams for the future.

“50 Humans was kind of like the project I put in everything I learned in the past five years, six years. I met 50 people, and I tried only to focus on their lives right here’ [in Belgium]… Talking about the success that happened in a lot of these cases is very important.”

In June 2023, 50 Humans will be heading to the Belgian seaside town of Ostend for the latest stop on its Belgian tour. Abdulazez, however, is already planning the next step in his creative journey – ‘Own Narrative’.

“It’s an organization, a non-profit where art, photography, photojournalism, activism, videography, they all meet in one place. And there’s one more element into the equation – which is the academic and tech world. I’m studying computer science and AI, and I know technology can help a lot of people today who are in need. So that will be one of my very big goals in the future to bring academia and technology into these things.”

The plan is to leverage technology for refugees to tell their ‘own narratives’ of hope, kindness and determination. The first innovative exhibition ‘Bright Tomorrow’ will showcase the work of Syrian artists, with the artwork sold and the proceeds donated to grass-roots organizations working with refugees. Abdulazez even has plans to take the exhibition around Europe.

Abdulazez’s creativity and determination have taken his photography and storytelling to great heights, demonstrating how small acts of kindness can sow the seeds of hope away from home for refugees.

“It’s the butterfly effect…some small things that happened in the past, I’m still affected by them today. Because through them, I have met thousands of people, I speak their words, I speak their experiences”, Abdulazez concludes.