Self-Portrait, Molenbeek (#74)

"The works perhaps begin with her life experiences, but ultimately shirk them off. Instead, they become lyrical expressions of instability, grief, loss and resilience." Charlotte Jansen in The Guardian in 2023.

In 1992, Hélène Amouzou and her husband – a political activist – are forced to flee Togo with their newborn daughter. From Benin, they make their way to Germany to seek asylum. Their application is rejected, however, and Amouzou's husband is deported without a trace. Searching for him in Benin, she learns that he has been sent back to Togo, despite the threats facing him there. A few years later, Amouzou and her daughter go to Brussels. For almost two decades, they live in the shadows: without papers, without security, simply waiting. It is only in 2015 that they are granted Belgian citizenship.

During this long period spent in limbo, Amouzou develops Self-Portrait, Molenbeek, a series of self-portraits made in the abandoned attic of her home. The uncanny images, characterised by the hazy, ghostly effect of long exposures, capture the sense of invisibility and uprootedness haunting her life. The images do more than document her situation: they explore the emotional burden of statelessness and become a silent condemnation of the bureaucratic systems that render migrants invisible and deny them their agency. The series bears witness to Amouzou's struggle to preserve her identity through the protracted years of exile and uncertainty. But also how, step by step, she is able to reclaim her own place.