A decade of unrest nor the fall of the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad has not alleviated the largest refugee crisis of our era. The Syrian unrest erupted amid the Arab Spring in 2011, leading to the displacement of over 14 million Syrians worldwide. However, amidst this turmoil, the crisis has often been treated as a distant issue, detached from the interconnectedness of global challenges despite the human proximity many countries have by receiving Syrian people under refugee status. As we stand in the pivotal year of 2025, defined by a hopeful and uncertain future for Syria, the urgency of individual awareness about the proximity towards this situation becomes ever more palpable.

 

Where Do We Land? emerges as a meditation grounded in the philosophy of Bruno Latour, on humanity's interconnectedness in the face of contemporary challenges. It presents a series of ten dual photos capturing the hands of Syrian people in their quest for asylum in the Netherlands. Each photograph features a right hand holding a postal stamp of the Netherlands and a left hand holding a postal stamp of Syria. Set against a neutral background reminiscent of a forest, the minimalist approach directs attention to the hands, which symbolize departure, trajectory, arrival, return, welcome, or rejection.

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Driven by a profound need to grasp even a fragment of the immense and layered realities experienced by the world’s largest refugee group, I began covertly visiting one of the largest housing facilities of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in the summer of 2022. My interest was rooted in a deeply personal, yet perhaps naïve, attempt to draw a geometric rationality between U.S.-Mexican and EU-Syria migration policies.

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This initial curiosity unfolded into a relationship during my visits with Ibrahim (a pseudonym chosen for his protection). Over time, our weekly conversations evolved into a photographic project—an attempt to translate his journey into visual form. The project, however, came to a pause when Ibrahim was granted a citizen service number, a bureaucratic key that finally allowed him to work legally and begin reconstructing his life in the northern city of Groningen—beyond the institutionalized limbo of the COA’s reception centers.

 

A Persian carpet frames each photograph. Evoking the allegorical imagery of the "magic carpet" of the rich cultural history of Persian and Arabian folklore. The carpets stress the suspended state of an individual as well as human civilization in the modern era. Both dire to know “where do we land” as a global community defined by uncertainty and displacement, yet bound together by shared hopes, laws and aspirations.

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Furthermore, it acknowledges the societal shifts occurring in nations like the Netherlands, where multiculturalism has faced challenges with the rise of far-right populism. Immigration, particularly from Muslim-majority countries, has been central to this shift, echoing trends seen globally, such as in Europe, Israel, the United States, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Argentina. Where Do We Land? seeks to shed light on these shifts and encourage critical reflection on their implications for our collective future.