Heimat / Saudade

Close up of an arm holding three tulips made from wool. The arm has a colour tattoo of a tulip, and the woolen tulips are being held in an arrangement.
A woman sits on a stool in a light room looing at the camera. She is wearing a pink jumper with a panther on it and a long blue skirt. Her hands are held on her lap and her fingers and interlocked.

“For me wearing longs skirts growing up was linked to radical Christian belief systems and for me to reclaim it as something I like to wear as a feminist is freeing (but I only recently realised this).

I would not quickly take this skirt with me to the Netherlands next time I visit.”

Close up of a hand made vase depicting two women in different stems. There are dried flowers in each stem.

Heimat

From the comprehensive German BROCKHAUS encyclopaedia

“That term which defines the concept of an imaginarily developed, or actual landscape or locations, with which a person… associates an immediate sense of familiarity. This experience is… imparted across generations, through family and other institutions, or through political ideologies. In common usage, HEIMAT also refers to the place (also understood as a landscape) that a person is born into, where they experience early, socialization that largely shapes identity, character, mentality and worldviews …”

Krug, 2018.

Close up of a table with three tins. The first shows the previous Queen of the Netherlands, the second is a coffee tin by Droste showing a woman in traditional Dutch dress and the third is a Douwe Egberts tin showing a woman and a man having coffee.
A square painting on a wall. The painting shows a cow attacking a man. A woman has been knocked into the sky and a baby is laid on the ground. In the background are windmills and people in boats on a canal.
Close up of the lid of a circular piece of pottery. It shows a farm scene painted in blue of a triangular farmhouse surrounded by trees. There are three chickens in front of the farmhouse.
A woman is sitting on a stool reading a small book next to a table. She is wearing a long skirt, an apron and a navy blue top with pink dots on it.
A woman is sitting on a stool reading a small book next to a table. She is wearing a long skirt, an apron and a navy blue top with pink dots on it. She is waving her fist while reading the small book.
Close up of The Little Handbook for Catholic Wife and Mother opening pages. On the left is an image of a saint and a child, on the right is the titles and printing details in Dutch.
A white table displays a black picture frame with a black and white photo of a man and children feeding animals, a ceramic figure of a hen, two ceramic chicken figures, a white vase with a colorful flower, a cup with red, yellow, green, and blue floral patterns, and a white background with a colorful floral wallpaper.

“A homage to my grandparents farm – the only place that I felt most myself growing up. This relationship changed throughout the years – from having my first sleepover there to becoming a carer to them both.”