Elsewhere illustrates contemporary experiences of otherness and familiarity, and explores the dreams and illusions that have led people to leave their homes.

In a montage of photographs, texts and interviews, the book makes tangible the universal desire to leave one’s familiar surroundings in search of a place in the world where life is better.

Visual artist Marieken Verheyen has taken photos in regions where many immigrants living in the Netherlands come from: West Africa, Eastern Europe, the former colonies, Arab countries. The photographs show views from living room windows. The viewer, as it were, looks over the shoulder of an occupant through the window to the outside world. They are large-screen photos showing an enormous wealth of detail from which stories about everyday life bubble up naturally.

Her travels raised the question of how we in the West view these countries and how people there see our world. Travelling and photographing in Third World countries evokes rather ambivalent feelings. The privileged position you have there as a ‚rich‘ white person contrasted with the stories she heard from immigrants about their experiences here. Apart from the photographs, Verheyen made a video with interviews with people there about their image of Europe and with people here about their image of Africa.

2003-2008
Elsewhere | Photos 150×180-230 cm
Elsewhere | Book, English/Dutch, 120 pages, 28×21,5 cm, 2008