Marco was born in Brasil in 1987. He was adopted by Luxembourgish parents and grew up in Dudelange before moving to Berlin in 2012. He spent his last days in the Schillerkiez, a small neighbourhood northwest of Neukölln, where he’d been sleeping rough for a while.
Marco had solid roots in the Luxembourgish art scene as one half of the electronic duo Chrystal and Crack, along with Chris Diederich. Those who knew him characterised him as a driven and highly gifted artist, musically and otherwise.
I met Marco in August 2020 by sheer chance. I was spending the summer in Berlin. While walking aimlessly around Neukölln, I thought I heard someone behind me muttering distressingly to himself in Luxembourgish. I did not know Marco beforehand and I was startled by his agitated monologue.
Later that day I bumped into Marco again and decided to approach him. After some initial hesitance, we struck up a conversation about Luxembourg and found out that we had some common friends and acquaintances. For the next two weeks it became part of my daily routine to go see him twice -- once in the morning when I left my place and at night when I headed back. Marco was happy to just chat and never wanted more than a slice of pizza or something to drink. What seemed to be important to him is that I reached out to his friends back home and told them that he was doing well. When he saw my camera, he asked me to take his portrait. I think he just wanted to be seen.
Marco was clearly struggling with mental health issues. He spent a great deal of time talking to himself, seemingly in his own world. Sometimes he yelled loudly. Despite his troubles, Markus (as he was known over there) never lost an ounce of his charisma, sense of humour, humility or coolness. This was apparent in how his neighbours looked after him and how he interacted with the children in the Kiez, exchanging affectionate greetings when they passed by.
Marco died on the 8th of January, 2021. An altar brimming with pictures and messages was set up by his friends and neighbours to conmemorate him right by the place where he slept.
Meeting Marco made me more acutely aware of how we often choose not to see those who have fallen off the edge of normative society. Those who, perhaps, need to be seen the most.
The portraits of Marco were taken in August 2020. The photos without Marco were taken exactly a year later.
