A Little Memory of The Beginning

In “A Little Memory of The Beginning”, I replicate on my Dutch-Indonesian heritage by way of archival materials, images, video, drawing, and textual content.

This challenge began with an image of my grandmother, which was used to use for Dutch citizenship in Indonesia (former colony of The Netherlands) in 1947. She was twenty one years outdated on the time. The title refers to a observe she wrote on the again of this picture: A Little Memory of “The Beginning”. To me, this sentence has a double which means. Firstly it refers to her private expertise on the time. It makes me surprise to what extent she was conscious of what sort of starting was beginning? She grew up within the former colony talking each Dutch and Malay, she knew all about Dutch historical past, she was in a position to sing the nationwide anthem and will identify all of the names of the royal household by coronary heart, however she had by no means been to the Netherlands earlier than. Secondly, the title additionally has a literal which means, as a result of there’s little or no information about this particular interval within the lifetime of my grandparents.

Based on what I do know, from members of the family and collective historical past, I believe you may say that my grandfather was an instance of somebody who was each oppressed, in addition to a part of the oppression. From 1942 to 1943 he fought towards the Japanse occupation in Indonesia as a part of the Dutch military (KNIL) and was held hostage in a camp from 1943 to 1945 the place he needed to work on the Burma Railway. Afterwards, from 1946 to 1947 he needed to serve the KNIL once more, this time preventing the Indonesian revolution, throughout which roughly 100.000 Indonesian independence fighters and civilians have been killed. In 1951, my grandparents, along with their three eldest kids, together with my father, left by boat for the Netherlands. Once there, they wished to combine as rapidly and in addition to they might, but it surely turned out to be way more tough than they anticipated. Throughout their lifetime, my grandparents by no means shared a lot about this era of their lives, but it surely has left its mark on my father’s upbringing, and subsequently additionally on me.

Within this challenge I replicate on my Dutch-Indonesian heritage. Through archival materials, images, video, drawing and textual content I attempt to hint fragmented household histories throughout time and geography. Through creative analysis and embodied practices, like haptotherapy and household constellations, I’m looking for new rituals to have interaction with inherited reminiscence and the tales that stay unstated. This ends in a constellation of photographs which are intimate, partial and looking, which mirror the unfinished nature of diasporic reminiscence and invite reflection on what it means to belong.

Over the previous 4 years, I’ve labored on this challenge intermittently, alongside different tasks and actions. I’ve carried out in depth analysis at areas in Indonesia and in Indonesian and Dutch (household) archives. Recently, I’ve additionally began creating new photographs at numerous areas in Brabant (NL) which have performed essential roles in my household historical past, for instance, on the completely different shelters the place they lived in the course of the first years of their lives within the Netherlands.

At the start of this yr, I’ve been chosen for Futures Platform with this challenge (nominated by Fotodok, NL) and in May 2026, it will likely be introduced as a solo exhibition for the primary time as a part of the ShowOFF part throughout Kraków Photomonth (PL). In the autumn of 2026 it will likely be a part of a gaggle exhibition at Atelier Néerlandais within the run-up to and through Paris Photo and in collaboration with FW:Books (NL) I’ll current it as a publication.