The photo project What Makes a Home shifts the focus from adversity and trauma to brief, intimate moments of joy, resilience, and creativity—moments where life can be about more than survival.
For the past decade, Better Shelter has been active in over 80 countries and has delivered housing to hundreds of thousands of people affected by conflict and disaster. These shelters have become more than just structures providing a roof over someone’s head—they have come to represent an often-overlooked necessity of life in displacement: dignity.
“I wore this necklace the night we fled. They looted and burned down our house, but we managed to escape. As we ran, I lost my husband in the chaos. Some people have told me that he ended up in Libya. Others say he is dead. This was almost a year ago. He gave me this necklace on our wedding day – it’s the only thing I have left from our life in Sudan.”
Kobra, 30, a Sudanese refugee in Chad
To tell these stories, Better Shelter has commissioned three photographers—Björn Wallander, Ci Demi and Ali Haj Suleiman. Together, their images capture the complexities of displacement—grief and uncertainty, alongside moments of normalcy: cooking dinner while entertaining a toddler, or the domestic struggles of a partner’s hobby that’s taken up a bit too much space at home, or the ingenuity and care in which someone finds ways to personalise and decorate their shelter, making it something to be proud of—small but meaningful acts of resilience.
The project has been made possible thanks to the people who opened their homes and shared their stories, along with the support of our partner organisations: CARE International in Türkiye, SEEDS in India, UNHCR in Brazil and Chad, and the Watan Foundation in Syria.
When his family fled Venezuela, Gustavo knew he had to bring his gloves. He told his wife that if he could find no other work, he would teach boxing in the streets of Brazil. “I can teach in a single hour what another instructor needs 15 days for.” But Gustavo has no time to give classes; he is too busy coaching the camp’s youth soccer team.
Gustavo, a Venezuelan refugee in Brazil
Exhibition in New York
The project was exhibited to the public for the first time on September 25th to 27th at Ideal Glass Studios in the West Village in New York. The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the Consulate General of Sweden in New York.
When: 25-27 September, 11 AM to 6 PM
Where: Ideal Glass Studios, 9 West 8th Street, NYC
More information on the project site and the Climate Week NYC page
This project was made possible thanks to generous support from the Fondation David et Mehra Rimer.
