With 'Immigrant's Portal', Fileona Dkhar reflects on the experience of writing letters across time and space. Central to this is her study to learn Dutch as a second language and to understand her new environment, as part of her integration. During this process, she writes letters and emails, watches memes and takes photos and short videos, subtitling them in Dutch in her diary. At the same time, Dkhar investigates the past by reading translations of Dutch letters that were plundered during the Anglo-Dutch naval wars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. What meaning does she give to reading these lost letters, written by immigrants from the Netherlands who wanted to connect with the home front? Through photography, video and letter writing, Dkhar explores the emotional complexity of immigration and integration. With 'Immigrant's Portal' she wants to connect with unknown, distant voices from history: how can the plundered, never delivered letters express loneliness and the shared human desire for mutual contact?
Artist
Fileona Dkhar
Title
Immigrant's Portal
Budget CBK Rotterdam
€ 6.800,00
Year of award
2024
Request type
I&V subsidy