Melkweg Expo – I went on a holiday to the country you fled from

Design + Editor

"You can be my ears and my eyes, basically you'll be touching the same earth, breathing the same air that I breathed when I was little." 

Guided by these words spoken by Mexican author and trans woman Alejandra Ortiz, Dutch cisgender documentary photographer Iris Haverkamp Begemann went on a holiday to the country Alejandra fled from—Mexico. After forming a unique friendship based on mutual trust and understanding, their connection sparked this communal multimedia project in 2021. Led by Alejandra’s instructions and hand-printed maps drawn from memory, Iris travelled to Mexico to visit meaningful locations from Alejandra’s childhood. The map guided Iris to places where Alejandra felt both loved and cared for, but also extremely unsafe, marginalised and rejected by her own family. Shown alongside Alejandra’s personal messages and childhood stories, Iris’s photo series presents a visual diary capturing Alejandra’s memories of a birthplace she had to leave behind, and to which she cannot return.

Tjade designed the exhibition, in collaboration in the Melkweg Expo. Roxy was responsible for all the exhibition texts.

_{+ Melkweg Expo: I went on a holiday to the country you fled from}


Year: 2022

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Melkweg Expo – Eyes on Robert

Art Direction + Design + Editor

Eyes on Robert is an exhibition inspired by the iconic Robert Mapplethorpe, featuring new work created by a diverse group of contemporary queer photographers.

Tjade co-curated and designed the exhibition, in collaboration with Melkweg Expo and Holland Festival. Roxy was responsible for the exhibition texts and all accompanying press communications.

Photographers: Ari Versluis, Daan Couzijn, Dustin Thierry, Dylan van Vliet, Ferry van der Nat, Henri Verhoef, Martijn Mendel and Vytautas Kumža.

_{+ Melkweg Expo: Eyes on Robert}


Year: 2019