TO ORANDA / とオランダ
(=AND THE NETHERLANDS)

To Oranda (2023) is a video work that reflects on moving to Belgium, my Japanese heritage, and my Dutch upbringing. Although I was born and raised in the Netherlands, within the EU, I am not considered an EU or Dutch citizen. Positioned between cultural frameworks without a singular point of origin, To Oranda examines the forms of communication and relation that emerge from living between these three national contexts. By merging bureaucratic, personal, and historical impressions, the work investigates how identity is negotiated and formed in transit. Repeated attempts to imagine new futures beside new people in unfamiliar places have continually led me both to and away from Oranda (“Netherlands” in Japanese).