What does it mean to wait? The world moves around you, the sun goes down, seasons come and go, and winter follows the fall with its dreamy grace. Rain falls steady and soft, everything transitions slowly, but the motion of change never falters. Mother earth herself turns in one direction and always onward; everywhere, except in your own life.
As you wait your mind does not stop thinking; you are angry and bitter, lonely and abandoned. You wake up in the morning and put a smile on your face the same way you put on your socks before you head out.
I Was Younger Yesterday looks at the lives of Ammar, Lyla, Ramen, Hafsa, Chaman, and Ammar, who have had their refugee status denied by The Netherlands, and are fighting the threat of deportation. As a result, they live in limbo, stuck between borders; unable to return home and incapable to build up a new life here in The Netherlands. – T. Faroq
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Thana Faroq In 2016, Yemen’s war unfolded over several years and and forced photographer Thana Faroq into a Dutch exile. Her exploration of photography, texts, sound, and the physicality of the image itself is a way to respond to the changes that have been shaping and defining her life and sense of belonging both in Yemen and The Netherlands.
Her work mirrors her life and provides a visual echo of her voice as she negotiates themes of post memory, trauma, and migration. Thana has a unique approach to working with her subjects in that she regularly returns to them to continue sharing their journey. Many of these migrant, stateless individuals were with Thana during her transitional period.
“My body of work is always about making my way home, but sometimes I walk to the unfamiliar, and by doing so I get lost in other lives too. My work for the past two years has been about settling myself myself in the unfamiliar.”
Thana was a recipient of the 2018 inaugural Open Society Foundation Fellowship Grant and Exhibition and the 2019 Arab Documentary Fund supported by the Prince Claus Fund and Magnum Foundation and Zenith magazine reporting grant. She was selected in the British Journal of photography ‘Ones to Watch’ 2020. Thana received her BA in Government and International Relations from Clark University, and an MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism from The University of Westminster London. She is currently completing her MA in Photography and Society at The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague.
For further viewing and details of her new publication, visit the artist’s website: thanafaroq.com
