Identities Project

The Identities Project is a collaborative documentary songwriting initiative led by Melodi Var Öngel and Malcolm Brooks.

The project explores questions of identity, especially the experience of holding multiple cultural influences or navigating shifts in self-understanding. For some participants, this comes from growing up between cultures. For others, it emerges through major life changes such as loss or transition.

In many cases, people describe feeling pressure to present only parts of themselves in order to be understood or accepted. This project creates space for the full self to be heard.

Working with participants from diverse cultural backgrounds—including Québec, Iraq, the United Kingdom, and Côte d’Ivoire—the artists collaborate to shape personal stories into original songs. Each song reflects a distinct voice and experience, revealing unexpected moments of strength, clarity, and grace.