Ahmed Zaidan is a poet, journalist and artistic researcher, whose work is focused on the contrasts of life experiences, from war and love to death and our constant seeking for answers.

In 2015 when the refugee crisis started in EU, Zaidan began to use his research assistant background to enlarge / expand his view and work on the stories of asylum seekers, realizing it was crucial to bring these stories to the mainstream, away from the traditional reporting that is somehow exhausted and not often receiving the attention it requires.

To bring the conceiled dimensions of their stories through art, Ahmed does what he calls poetic journalism. “Some people, the concept of home, they found when they arrived to Greece… some found it in Germany when they were received by human organizations so they could continue their journey… so when they speak of home, even though they live in Finland, they speak of Germany. So this is how Homeland was born. How they interpret “homeland”… and also my personal experiences, from Iraq all the way to Finland.”

The Abstract Concept of Endings is an artistic research project supported by the Kone Foundation which Zaidan is now embarking on, along with the migration institute of Finland. The project requires him to transfer scientific materials into poetic prose, with a focus on endings, from the endings of refugee journeys, their previous lives in other countries, the ending of your status as an asylum seeker, the moment you receive a new citizenship, and so… every moment, and every ending, brings a new life… to me, it is also a new beginning”.