Hanna Hrabarska

FOTODOK x BredaPhoto

With Grounding – Stories of Migration, FOTODOK ✕ BredaPhoto Festival present works by seven artists that tell stories of first generation migration – those who came to the Netherlands by choice or by circumstance. These works reflect processes of diasporic homemaking and identity formation: both ever-evolving pursuits for the uprooted. Split into parts, or caught between past and present, the urge to define a new sense of home – and a new sense of self – becomes stronger than ever.

Participating artists: Giya Makondo-Wills, Hanna Hrabarska, Kevin Osepa, Marwan Magroun, Nael Quraishi, Sebastian Koudijzer & Tyler Koudijzer, Thana Faroq

Curated by Daria Tuminas

Location: Stadsgalerij Breda

Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Uzhgorod, Mali Selmentsi, Kosice, Budapest,Munich… before finally arriving in the Netherlands. My Mom Wants To Go Back Home documents the winding journey that Hanna Hrabarska and her mother, Iryna, were forced to take after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Hrabarska’s documentation of this unimaginable journey is meticulous, revealing moments of fragile transition throughout. Each movement we see is a step away from home; meals are hastily arranged on the go; people wave goodbyes and emotions constantly shift.

Only small , everyday objects become an anchor with reality. Whilst Iryna is at the centre of the story, her separate portraits collectively form one – defined by a deep sense of daughterly love, care and affection. Having been granted ‘temporary protection’ in the Netherlands, Hrabarska and her mother have endeavoured to establish a temporary home here. But isn’t the idea of a temporary home an oxymoron? Connecting with a new space demands considerable effort, pain and hope – and the heart, meanwhile, longs to be elsewhere. There is a strength, though, in being able to live through uncertainty: without knowing how temporary the temporary is, or how much of a home this home can become.