Iris Haverkamp Begemann – Melkweg Expo

We are very excited to share the upcoming exhibition at the Melkweg Expo by photographer Iris Haverkamp Begemann & co-author Alejandra Ortiz. Opening Friday 15th July: I went on holiday to the country you fled from
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“You can be my ears and my eyes, basically you’ll be touching the same earth, breathing the same air that I breathed when I was little.”⁣
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Guided by these words spoken by Mexican author and trans woman Alejandra Ortiz, Dutch cisgender documentary photographer Iris Haverkamp Begemann went on a holiday to the country Alejandra fled from—Mexico. After forming a unique friendship based on mutual trust and understanding, their connection sparked this communal multimedia project in 2021.⁣
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Led by Alejandra’s instructions and hand-printed maps drawn from memory, Iris travelled to Mexico to visit meaningful locations from Alejandra’s childhood. The map guides Iris to places where Alejandra felt both loved and cared for, but also extremely unsafe, marginalised and rejected by her own family. Shown alongside Alejandra’s personal messages and childhood stories, Iris’s photo series presents a visual diary capturing Alejandra’s memories of a birthplace she had to leave behind, and to which she cannot return.⁣
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See you all at the opening, Friday 15 July, from 5 pm onwards!

Published on 28-06-2022