Bruno dash Dutch

What makes a person Dutch? Is a person Dutch if he/she resides in the Netherlands? Lives in the Netherlands? Was born in the Netherlands?

✽
Nomination
ING / Unseen
New Talent Photography Award

2013

Until recently, Bruno's nationality was indicated by a dash. Although he did receive a residency permit when he came to the Netherlands as a baby in 1995, he did not have a nationality. Without a nationality, you do not exist. Bruno found that out when he wanted to go to the UK on a school trip. Because of him, his class missed the boat.

On the day he turned eighteen, Bruno reported to the desk at the town hall in Amersfoort to receive the Dutch nationality.

Bruno finally became a Dutch citizen during a naturalisation ceremony, right before Willem Popelier took Bruno's portrait. The first christmas after the ceremony, he paid a visit to his family in Rwanda for the first time in his life.

C-print, 60x90 cm, 2013

This work was made during the summer of 2013 as part of the nomination of the ING / Unseen New Talent Photography Award 2013.

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