PAPUA MAGAZINE
I was approached by Papua Magazine to photograph seven portraits for seven different editions of the magazine. I feel deeply honored to contribute to this meaningful project and to help visually support the powerful stories being shared.
April 2024, Netherlands
This story is one of seven intergenerational narratives featured in Papua Magazine. The magazine presents the shared history between the Netherlands and Papua in an accessible and engaging way — not solely through numbers and facts, but through the personal stories of people whose family histories and life trajectories have been shaped by this shared past.
This approach makes the magazine highly readable, even for those with little to no prior knowledge of Papua or its colonial history.
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Auteur: Femke Schouten
Eindredactie: Bas Popkema
The Papuan diaspora in the Netherlands consists of approximately 3,000–4,000 people (there is no official census) who settled here after the Netherlands relinquished its last colony in 1962. Their homeland — or that of their (grand)parents — is Papua, formerly known as Dutch New Guinea. Since the 1950s, three generations have put down roots in the Netherlands.
The first generation largely blended into Dutch society quietly and without much public attention. Over time, their stories have faded, the silence has grown, and shared memories now risk being lost altogether.
