Between Nostalgia & Dreams, the latest exhibition by Ethiopian American photographer Yusuf Ahmed is ongoing at The Africa Center at Aliko Dangote Hall in New York City. This deeply personal and evocative collection explores the objects that immigrants hold onto as artifacts that tether them to their histories, identities, and the places they've left behind.
"For Black, brown, and queer individuals shaped by migration and diaspora, these objects transcend nostalgia," Ahmed explained to OkayAfrica. "They open up new ways of thinking about home, memory, and place." His portraits span multiple continents and generations and illuminate the significance of physical keepsakes in preserving cultural and personal identity.'The Adoption Album,' 2022
Photo courtesy of Yusuf Ahmed.
The Adoption Album, 2022.
Aby's story stands out among the exhibition's subjects. In The Adoption Album (2022), we see an intimate still-life of an old photo album, its cover marked with years of handling. "I've carried this photo album to every city I've moved to since the orphanage," Aby reflects. "Growing up as an adoptee, I often felt like I was denied a past that was very much real to me."
This sentiment resonates deeply with Ahmed's broader vision of his work acting as a counter to the erasure of immigrant narratives, a way to reclaim history through the objects that endure. "I realized I've always detached from objects, having moved a lot," Ahmed shared. "But talking to others, I started to see how sentimentality and memory are intertwined."
‘Maroodi,’ 2023
Photo courtesy of Yusuf Ahmed.
Maroodi, 2023.
In Maroodi, (2023), we meet a Somali trans woman reminiscing about a small necklace that once symbolized her defiance. "I thrifted this charm in college when I was 19. It was the first time I pushed back on Somali cultural ideas that boys couldn't wear jewelry," she explains. "At that time, putting on a necklace was the queerest thing I could do." Years later, rediscovering it in an old jewelry box brought tears to her eyes. "I realized this small thing was the most badass thing I'd ever done for myself."
Ahmed's work allows objects to tell layered stories of nostalgia, transformation, and agency. His photography gives physical form to emotions that might otherwise be lost in migration's constant forward motion.
'Dorian holding the Pierre de Mbigou,' 2022
Photo courtesy of Yusuf Ahmed.
Dorian holding the Pierre de Mbigou, 2022.
In Dorian Holding the Pierre de Mbigou, 2022, a single rock anchors an elusive sense of home.
"My mom gave me this rock from Gabon. It's the only thing I've held onto that connects me to home," says Dorian. Yet, home is complicated: "Going back to Gabon is a confrontation of my old self, a Dorian who played a role to survive. It's hard to go home because it has stayed stagnant. I've changed."
Ahmed's portraits explore this tension between the longing for home and the self that emerges when one leaves. "Much of the African and immigrant experience has been documented through an outsider's lens," Ahmed explained. "With this project, I wanted to reclaim that."
'Lelio’s Hair,' 2024
Photo courtesy of Yusuf Ahmed
Lelio’s Hair, 2024
For Lelio, home is not tied to an object but to something intrinsic: his hair. "My hair is the one thing about my Blackness that can't be taken from me," he states. Having grown up in Vietnam and South Africa, where white supremacist beauty standards were pervasive, Lelio's hair is both a symbol of non-conformity and an indicator of well-being. "Depending on how my hair looks, stretches, or breaks, it reflects my overall health."
Ahmed's portrait of Lelio is a meditation on self-acceptance. "Most Black people around the world, especially men, have to cut it to assimilate. So my hair defies the norms and says, This is who I am, and it affirms my Blackness unapologetically."
Celebrating memory and identity
Between Nostalgia & Dreams is more than an exhibition; it is an archive of emotion, migration, and identity. "I don't want this project to justify immigrant existence through economic contributions," Ahmed said. "Our humanity and right to belong shouldn't be contingent on transactional value. This project is for us, to nourish and sustain us."
As visitors walk through the exhibition, they are invited to reflect on their own keepsakes, their own stories of migration, and the objects that have remained constant in their journeys.