Zeeuws Meisje #freedom
Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home… Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. - Eleanor Roosevelt
In 2020, the Netherlands are celebrating 75 years of freedom. Generations of children have grown up without fear of tyranny or need. But for the 50 million children worldwide fleeing war, violence, poverty or natural disaster, freedom is often an elusive dream. In Zeeuws Meisje #freedom, Rem portrays a group of 26 school girls from many cultural backgrounds in traditional Zeeland dress, embroidered with President Roosevelt’s famous Four Freedoms. To realise the series, Rem collaborates with UNICEF, the Liberation Museum Zeeland, and ISK Walcheren, a school where migrant children are prepared for Dutch-spoken education. The photographs have been exhibited at the Dutch Parliament and at the Four Freedoms Awards in New York. The book Zeeuws Meisje #freedom combines the portraits with unsettling memories of the liberation of Zeeland and moving stories of refugee children who are starting a new life in the Netherlands.
