Creative Immigration
A Documentary Photography & Video Project by Andreea Dican
Creative Immigration is a documentary photography and video project exploring the personal and creative journeys of artists who have immigrated to pursue their artistic practice.
The project focuses primarily on female artists working across disciplines such as visual arts, dance, acting, jewelry design, and craftsmanship. Through a combination of portrait photography and in-depth video interviews, the series offers an intimate look into the realities of building a creative life in a new country.
Concept
Moving to a new country as an artist often means starting from zero — professionally, creatively, and personally. It involves navigating unfamiliar systems, rebuilding networks, and redefining identity, all while continuing to create.
Creative Immigration gives space to these experiences. The project highlights the motivations behind leaving, the challenges of starting over, moments of doubt, resilience, and the determination to keep going.
As a creative immigrant myself, I approach this project from a place of shared understanding. The interviews are conversational and personal, allowing each artist to reflect openly on their journey, their creative process, and what drives them forward.
While the focus lies on female artists — acknowledging the unique challenges women often face within creative industries — the project speaks to a broader audience by addressing themes of identity, belonging, and artistic work in a global context.
Exhibition 2026
The next chapter of Creative Immigration will be presented as a hybrid exhibition combining photography and video.
Exhibition Dates:
13. May 2026 – 09. July 2026
Location:
EWA Frauenzentrum e.V.
Prenzlauer Allee 6
10405 Berlin
The exhibition will feature a curated selection of 5 artists, each represented through a cohesive visual and narrative portrait.
As part of the opening event on 13. May 2026, visitors are invited to a panel discussion with the participating artists, offering deeper insight into their stories and creative journeys.
Meet the Artists
Beatrice Benedek
Beatrice is a Transylvanian-born, Scotland-based artist who embraces creative adventures wherever her journey takes her. She works as a theatre and film director, actor, and creative facilitator across the UK and Europe. Most recently, she directed two productions in Graz, Austria.
She is currently developing a documentary on Romanian Holocaust survivors, while also exploring her entrepreneurial ambitions with plans to establish a theatre. Alongside this, she continues to focus on advancing her international acting career.
Mihaela Caravan
Berlin-based artist Mihaela Caravan works at the intersection of art, architecture, and conceptual jewellery. Trained in contemporary jewellery, she creates minimalist pieces defined by light forms and simple geometries. Her artistic work often draws from personal experiences and emotions, using unconventional materials to create expressive, wearable artworks.
Chihoco Yanagi
Chihoco Yanagi is a Japanese artist based in Berlin since 2016. She is specialized in the traditional Japanese dance called Nihon Buyo. With the elegance of her Kimono and the delicacy of her movements, she conveys the beauty and spirituality of traditional Japanese culture across Europe.
Mx Jo Watson
Mx Jo Watson is an Argentine artist who relocated to Germany six years ago. During their travels across Europe, they developed a new wood-based technique that reconnected them with their origins, unexpectedly finding its consolidation in Germany. Their practice operates at the intersection of painting and printmaking, employing wood as a material embodiment of time and space, in close dialogue with nature. Through acts of carving and painting, Watson constructs a conceptual field in which presence and absence co-produce form and meaning, opening a threshold toward what persists between binary conditions.
Diane Merli
Everything begins and ends with the beauty of the world — and the deep, instinctive need to respond to it. My work is a way of translating this beauty, combining spontaneity and reflection in a graphic and poetic language that is both personal and silently universal.
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Why This Project Matters
Artists with migration backgrounds often navigate complex and layered realities. Their stories are rarely visible in depth, beyond surface-level representation.
Creative Immigration aims to:
create visibility for underrepresented voices
document the realities of creative work across cultures
foster understanding and connection
offer inspiration to others navigating similar paths
At its core, the project is about more than migration — it is about identity, resilience, and the universal need to create and belong.
About the Creator
Creative Immigration is created by Andreea Dican, a Berlin-based photographer and filmmaker with over eight years of professional experience in photography, videography, and visual storytelling.
Her work focuses on people, identity, and meaningful narratives, with a strong emphasis on authenticity and emotional depth. With a background in branding photography and documentary-style video production, she combines a refined visual aesthetic with a human-centered approach.
Having immigrated herself to pursue a creative career, Andreea brings a deeply personal perspective to the project. Her ability to create a safe and trusting environment allows artists to open up and share their stories honestly and without pressure.
Her work sits at the intersection of art and storytelling — capturing not only what people do, but why they do it.
Ongoing Project
Originally launched in 2020 as a mini-documentary series, Creative Immigration is now being relaunched and expanded as a long-term project.
The vision is to continue documenting artists across different cities and countries, building a growing archive of stories that reflect the diversity and complexity of creative lives shaped by migration.
Get in Touch
If you are an artist, curator, or organization interested in collaborating, or if you would like to learn more about the project, feel free to get in touch.