A stateless person is someone who, under national laws, does not have the legal bond of nationality with any State.
No one should be stateless, or everyone should be stateless.
In this installation I'm showing a newborn between his mother's arms, mother earth, not knowing what's waiting for them yet. The consequences of their statelessness often start before they are even born.
They will have no legal protection and no right to vote, and they often lack access to education, employment, health care, registration of birth, marriage or death, and property rights.
More than 15 million stateless people around the world, a big majority of them are Palestinians.
Being stateless myself for almost my whole life has shaped my personality mentally and psychologically in a different way. I immersed myself in a long journey in search of my identity.
Today I feel more grounded than ever before
I close my eyes like a newborn. I hug myself gently and I smile. I breathe, I exist, I belong.
The sculpture is 120x120x170 cm I made during my residency at Art House Holland, Leiderdorp Nl 2022
“Childhood statelessness- I belong” Group-exhibition "I see you- I hear you" 08-12-2022/ 15-01-2023. Gallery de Ploegh, Amersfoort NL
