migrants Archives - Judith Quax

Image editing for my book publication

July 1, 2019

Goree photo editingJQ 063

At the roof top terrace of our home at Gorée Island, in Dakar, Senegal, I am working on the image editing for my book on the Amsterdam Dakar road trip. A photo book about connecting different worlds, migration, identity, education, parenthood and love. A beautiful graphic design by Rene Put. With contributions by African writers, philosophers and artists.

And wonderful news: the Mondriaan Fund gave a grant for the book publication.

Installation at Gorée Island

March 30, 2019

This weekend I am presenting “Voyage à Dakar” at “Regards sur Cours”, an art festival at Gorée island. I developed an installation in the library of a former colonial house, Keur Khadija, which is now used as a children’s home.

The children’s book “Leuk the Hare” written by Senegal’s first president Leopold Sedar Senghor, plays a special role in this installation: former school teacher El Hadji Mbengue, who lives at Gorée and grew up with the stories of Leuk the Hare, is reading the book.

This performance is combined with the projection of silent, poetic images of me and Noah Saliou who, together – against the migration flow – are crossing and connecting two continents.

It is interesting to present the work here in Senegal, where many people have mixed identities and shared their personal stories about Senegal, Africa and (be-)longing. Many people in Senegal know “Leuk the Hare” and shared their favorite stories. Also Noah Saliou’s grandparents came and loved to see the images and to hear the stories.

Film stills from the Amsterdam Dakar road trip

April 17, 2015

The past few months I have been busy editing the hours and kilomters of material. My son and me both photographed and filmed and we were being filmed by the people we met on the way. I am now working on the concept of the film/documentary/installation.
A small selection of film stills:

“Presence in Absence” has been nominated for the Dutch Doc Award!

February 12, 2013

My series on migrants graves in Senegal – part of the project “Presence in Absence” – has been nominated for the Dutch Doc Awards! For this series I have traveled along the beaches of Senegal, from Dakar up north to Saint Louis at the border with Mauritania.

In “presence in absence” I show different aspects of this universal phenomenon: empty rooms in both Senegal and Europe in which I focus on the absence of the migrants, in the intimacy and privacy of the rooms they left behind. The perspective is that of the migrants; what they leave behind them and what they recreate at destination to build a sense of attachment.

The series of washed up clothing on the beaches of Senegal shows the uncertainty of what happened to the migrants: have they drowned in the ocean or have they arrived in Europe?

Judith Quax

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Image editing for my book publication

Installation at Gorée Island

Film stills from the Amsterdam Dakar road trip

“Presence in Absence” has been nominated for the Dutch Doc Award!

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