National Identities
Xenophobia, and especially Islamophobia, is on the rise in Europe. In my native Netherlands, as well as many other European countries, parties with strong anti-immigration stances are represented in many areas of government. These anti-immigration parties are using anti-globalism, rising inequalities, and economic uncertainties to scapegoat non-western immigrants.
Given these circumstances, I feel it is important to take a stand on these developments in European society, and mobilize against intolerance and narrow-mindedness. In this series ("National Identities"), based on national cultural symbols, I give immigrants a main role by using them as models in my photographic variations on classic iconic paintings. By doing this, I question the concept of homogeneous "national identities" of European countries.
Many of the "Dutch" national figures and their offspring were immigrants themselves: The philosophers Descartes (France) and Spinoza (Portugal), the great writer Joost van den Vondel (present-day Germany), painters such as Frans Hals and Gerard de Lairesse (Flanders), Govert Flinck and Caspar Netscher (Germany). These men are all considered protagonists of Dutch national culture. Many of the people in the parliament/government now who are concerned with the cultural assimilation of immigrants are they themselves descendants of immigrated foreigners.