Space A Barcelona

This image, created within the framework of La Cocina Ciutadella, captures the piercing gaze of a young man lying on the ground, dressed in a football shirt that hints at both youth and longing.

Yet what makes this photograph truly distinctive is not merely the intensity of his expression, but the fact that it was taken by one of his friends; someone experiencing the same uncertainty, the same suspended time of waiting for documents and recognition.

This act of peer-to-peer representation transforms the image from a record of observation into an exchange of empathy. By collapsing the hierarchy between photographer and subject, it becomes a shared gesture of storytelling, grounded in trust and mutual
understanding.

The introduction of a donated camera within the group opened a rare channel for creative freedom inside a daily existence otherwise defined by restriction, monotony, and bureaucratic delay. In this fragile space, photography transcends its function as leisure or
distraction to become a means of self-articulation, solidarity, and emotional survival.

The subject’s steady, unflinching gaze meets the viewer as a declaration of agency. Through this look – and through the collaborative process that produced it – ‘Real Eyes’ transforms a
moment of waiting into one of assertion and creation, bearing witness to the resilience and collective voice of migrant youth who claim visibility through art.