Next Generation - struggle for identity

»Are you born or do you become your nationality? Is it something from which you can’t escape and, if so, is nationality a kind of prison?«. Paul McVeigh, Belfast-born novelist The children and teenagers portrayed in my long-term project are the next generation on the path of rapprochement between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists who live in homogeneous neighborhoods that are divided by walls till today. This "Part II" has been photographed mainly since 2019 and a lot has already changed since I started documenting in 2006 – I met some cross-community teenage couples, fighting is not that common any more. But the steps are slow and everyday life for young people is not always strictly segregated, especially in the working-class housing communities. Many young people still seem to be trapped in their identity, the pressure to be who or for whom they want to be is still great and it remains difficult to break out of it. High suicide rates among young people make this clear. Also because there are hardly any integrated schools. Apart from that, life is very similar, no matter which side of the wall you live on.