In My Dreams I Want to Become a Tourist

Together with photographer Anaïs López, journalist Paulien Bakker and filmmaker Anisleidy Martínez I realized the exhibition In My Dreams I Want to Become a Tourist. The exhibition took place at the WTC The Hague Art Gallery from the 16th of June until the 28th of August 2016.

In my Dreams I want to become a tourist narrates the story of two Rwandan brothers Hirwa (13) and Jean-Cloude (11) who have to return to their mother Fareeda in Kigali after years of living in an orphanage. The exhibition shows this reunification and its consequences.

The Rwandan government is closing all orphanages as they do not fit the new (economic) status that the country aspires to. The children are better off with their own family or a foster family, is their argument. Photographer Anaïs López, journalist Paulien Bakker and filmmaker Anisleidy Martínez travelled to L’Esperance Children’s Village in the Rwandan countryside in December 2014, a month before the orphanage closed.

In a 2-channel installation that forms the heart of this exhibition, the artists follow Fareeda and her children up to six months after their reunion. They soon become closely involved with the family. The artists are faced with the unpredictable reality of Rwanda and reflect on their own role and responsibilities towards Fareeda and her sons.

During the time at the orphanage, the creators and the children developed a photo notebook, which became a memento of the orphanage family. The title In my dreams I want to become a tourist (2016) refers to one of the dreams in this booklet. With the proceeds of this booklet sold at the exhibition, some of the children were able to return to school.