BIJ ONS THUIS / AT OUR HOME

Participatory project / publication / exhibition / symposium / education

How do you grow old gracefully in the Netherlands if you come from a different cultural background? And what is the role of the care system?
The photos and stories in the Bij Ons Thuis/ At Our Home exhibition represent the wishes and ideas of a growing group in the Netherlands: elderly people who were not born here and whose children and grandchildren may or may not take care of them as they become increasingly infirm. In 2009, Statistics Netherlands counted 70,000 senior migrants in the Netherlands; this figure is expected to rise to over 520,000 by 2050. The majority are first-generation migrants, and therefore the first generation to encounter care for the elderly outside the family circle.

The photography project Bij Ons Thuis / At Our Home is an initiative of photographers Karijn Kakebeeke and Karine Versluis. The duo interviewed elderly migrants from The Hague, using photos from their family album to back up their conversations. A group of children and grandchildren of migrants also went out with cameras to records their views of multicultural life and the care given to their parents and grandparents. Another group of children and grandchildren reflected on the topic using archive pictures of Dutch care for the elderly. Care professionals were given an opportunity to respond to the stories that emerged.

PUBLICATION
Hand-out postcards

EXHIBITION
Nutshuis, Den Haag. 2018

PRESS
— Den Haag Centraal
— Haags Straatnieuws 

CREDITS
Concept and direction Karijn Kakebeeke & Karine Versluis
Project management Karijn Kakebeeke & Karine Versluis
Design and exhibition layout Studio Montero
Communication Jona Dekker
Production Sanne De Maijer
Translation Caroline McNeal
Partners Picture Bridge Foundation, Nutshuis Den Haag, HWW Zorg/ De Schildershoek, LUMC Leiden, AMC Amsterdam, Spaarnestad Archief
Financially supported by Nutshuis Den Haag, RCOAK, Fonds 1818, Sluyterman Van Loo, KNR-PIN Fund