Shortly after returning to Sweden in 2011, I began the #fromproject (2011–2014). The #fromproject through impromptu portrait photography and interviews, explores the complex answers to a seemingly simple question: “Where are you from?” This question can be experienced as polite conversation or overtly political categorization. Each of the 47 people photographed was asked to answer the question “Where are you from?” and the follow-up “Is it important?” In addition to a selection of the portraits originally published on a blog, and a crowdsourced element on Instagram, is a film where places in Västerbotten and Västernorrland that are part of my own narrative of origin are interwoven with the interviewees answers.
The project, is part of Vi och dom andra – a collaborative photography group based in Umeå, Sweden and was exhibited at the Sune Jonsson Centre for Documentary Photography and publicly along Umeå city bus lines.
“It's a difficult question…In one way it is important where you’re from. Seeing as this affects us to a certain extent. And, on the other hand, no. Because we are all people. We are, fundamentally very much alike. I am often asked where I am from because I am Muslim and my answer is Sweden.” -Maria from Stensele, Sweden 
"My parents are from Congo but I was born in a refugee camp in Rwanda. I say I am from Congo, but I also say I was born in Rwanda. Sometimes it, 'where I'm from', feels important, I don't know... You know a little more about a person if you know where they come from. I don't know why, it just feels important to me." -Anitha with sister Aimee from Congo 
"In some way, I think all people...we need to have origin. Then you can move for many reasons, but I think it's important to have a starting point." -Kurt from a coastal village near Lövånger 
"It is the homeland one always longs for. Especially when you've never been there. I was born a refugee in Syria, and the boy is born in Sweden." -Ibrahim with son Hassan from Palestine 
“Yes, I think it’s important where you're from. It's strange, we have lived in Härnösand since 1960, but since I was raised in Sundsvall, I almost know that town better than Härnösand. Because, when I was young, you could walk in the backyards and gardens throughout city, just out of youthful curiosity. I learned to know the city in that way. But as an adult, here, you can’t explore in the same way.” -Kurt with Maj-Lis from Sundsvall 
Leonard from Sundsvall
"It's important to me, that I am from Sundsvall. I am very nostalgic, but for others it probably wouldn't matter to be from that city. A lot of it has to do with nature and surroundings. It's hard for me to thrive in cities that don't have very much greenery in them." 
“I often say that I am from God, but I was born in Malmö, in the Skåne region. If you had asked me when I was your age, I would have said ‘no.’-it is not important where you are from -but now I feel that I have always made it a priority to keep my language, my dialect...I think that the dialect we live with as children is in some way a part of your identity...There is so much with childhood that still characterizes you –even if you move far away –that ties you to your roots. I can’t say why it is that way. I can only point it out.” -Maria