I Went on a Holiday to the Country You Fled From is a project by Dutch photographer Iris Haverkamp Begemann. The photography series, made in collaboration with Mexican trans writer and activist Alejandra Ortiz, weaves together experiences of belonging and rejection to create an intimate portrait of identity and the complex ways that it dictates personal freedom.

In forming a tight knit friendship, Iris and Alejandra began to acknowledge the parallels in their day-to-day lives in Amsterdam, but also the harsh contrast in their lived experiences. Through conversation, an idea for creative collaboration was born: Using the inherent privilege Iris embodies as a cis-gendered white woman, she would travel to Alejandra’s hometown in Mexico to document the place Alejandra left behind in an attempt to escape violence. The practicalities reduced to Iris easily applying for a holiday visa, while Alejandra continued to fight for her asylum. A journey and photography series to expose a juxtaposition in experience and personal freedom.

Led by instructions and a hand-printed map drawn from memory, Iris traces Alejandra’s early life in Salitral de Carrera, Mexico. Arriving in the remote town, Iris is welcomed in a community where Alejandra felt both loved and cared for, but also extremely unsafe, marginalised and rejected by her own family. The cinematographic, earth-toned photographs stand in stark contrast to Alejandra’s handwritten notes, putting the harsh realities of her childhood onto paper

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ISBN 9789090383507
120 p, ills colour, 28 x 27 cm, hb, English