House vs Home
House vs Home is a playground for the search of belonging. We go from a house that once was a home – to the story of a mother, leaving her home to build a home elsewhere – to the story of a daughter longing for her mother, her home. Having a home is crucial to our personal development; but to experience the restful feeling of actually having one is a privilege not given to all. House vs Home explores the concept of home as both a physical space and an emotional experience.
Together with Shukrije and Shefki (Dugaja) we explore an ongoing struggle of finding home after the Kosovo war left the ground their house was built on drenched in blood. Then we join ‘white ghost’ (el jardín de los espíritus) moving through the landscape that is home to their mother. While dancing with a net we learn about their painfully moving Colombian family history. After, we are taken by Charlotte (Making my mother’s bed), who tells a story of endless longing and grief; the impact of the space a mother leaves after she passes.
Dugaja (a store) by Falkona Rexhepi (RKS/NL)
Dugaja is a poetic documentary on the sad transition of a house that was built to be a home, back to a house, back to a home – and forever fluctuating between these two states as a result of the Kosovo war in 1999. The camera was left on by Shefki, the store owner. While it’s pointed at the window, it’s documenting the precious images of a very particular space and time; post war Kosovo. While life continues in all its normality, the subtitles tell the tragic story of Shefki and his wife Shukrije; their house and home was seized by Serbian paramilitary troops during the war. They have tried endlessly to wash off the blood that was smeared on the house – but with little success.
country of production: Netherlands
year of production: 2020
running time: 22min16s
language (if any): Albanian
subs: English
Making my mother’s bed by Charlotte van de Graaff (NL)
Charlotte van de Graaff explores the estrangement and longing for the motherland prevalent in the Indo community. But even more so the experience of these notions within one’s intimate relationships; whether that be to one’s self or familial ones. Through poetry, play and video she creates new landscapes, questioning the form of narration;where does new land begin and end and where do those ends connect? An exploration of the familiarity and estrangement one can have with the mother as a woman, as female. To what landscape does she, or doesn’t she belong?
country of production: Netherlands, Indonesia
year of production: 2024
running time: +- 20min (still in editing phase)
language (if any): English primary, Dutch and Bahasa
subs: English
el jardín de los espíritus (the garden of the spirits) by Lili Ullrich (DE)
Lili Ullrich dances as ‘white ghost’ – through the landscape of their mother’s home in Colombia. In conversation with their mother and other family members they explore the story of their mother’s heritage and their own. We move through the exploration of white privilege and the effects of colonialism in Colombia and its cultural impact on social constructs.
country of production: Colombia, Germany (?)
year of production: 2020
running time: 9min52s
language (if any): Spanish
subs: English
Tell Me Where You Are Really From is an exhibition about immigration, belonging, struggle, alienation, home and house. MaMA will serve as the temporary home where these stories come together and offers the possibility to explore them. Tell Me Where You Are Really From belongs to those who lived these stories and to those who wish to learn.
