News media have on several occasions written about crime and violent episodes in areas of east and south Oslo. Holmlia is one such place, which first became known to the general public in 2001 for the racially motivated murder of 15-year-old Benjamin Hermansen. Later, figures and reports have told about challenges with low employment and low income. Young men who grow up in persistently low incomes are at greater risk than girls of not completing upper secondary school, entering working life and falling into alienation. At the same time, many young people have the experience of being unfairly stigmatized on the basis of their place of residence and individual episodes.
Photographer Brian Cliff Olguin, himself raised in Holmlia, is concerned with what everyday life here looks like, and not least who the young men who experience the stigma are. Among themselves, they call each other “brother”. The designation is a declaration of trust. At Holmlia, the younger boys look up to the older ones. On the football field they dream of the Champions League, and behind the screens they seek followers and confirmation. Holmlia is their home ground.
