In January 2025, photographer Aaron Kebe traveled to Los Angeles - right in the middle of the Palisades Fire being brought under control. The rain that followed was seen as a relief in many places. But in Skid Row, a neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, not much changed for a lot of people. Kebe captured encounters and impressions there in a series of photographs that provide insight into realities of life that are often ignored in public discourse.

In collaboration with author Erhan Kobak, this developed into an artistic collaboration that focuses on questions of social responsibility and individual perception. At the center is an examination of the relationship between the self and the collective: How much emphasis should be placed on the individual—and what does it mean when collective realities are overlooked in the process?

The photographic work is complemented by four literary short stories. They depict different life situations, whose protagonists all share the same name: Mohammed—one of the most common first names worldwide. Despite this commonality, their lives seem separate from one another.

However, the stories point to structural connections that go beyond personal experiences: for example, through global supply chains, economic dependencies, or social inequalities. The work raises the question of how connected we really are—even without a conscious sense of belonging.

The concept was presented on November 1, 2025 at Haus Der Statistik in Berlin.