Refugee centers are waiting rooms of a different kind. In the Netherlands, they are often hidden from view—yet they are everywhere. Places of suspended time, where lives are placed on hold in uncertainty. Arrival here is not the end of a journey, but the beginning of another: a slow struggle for agency, recognition, and belonging.
I am Grateful (?!) is an installation born from these realities. Initially created by Nasma Alshutfa as a personal series of rooms—each one a story, a fragment of experience—it has since evolved into a collective work. As new voices joined and the team expanded, the installation grew into a shared space of testimony, memory, and belonging. My story now sits alongside theirs, shaped by the contributions of many people. You are invited to step inside—to witness both the intimate emotions and the political conditions that shape the lives of asylum seekers. This work asks you not to look away, but to engage—with curiosity, with understanding, and with questions.
This work exposes visible borders, the ones that divide nations, as well as invisible borders: those embedded in laws, prejudice, and cultural barriers. These unseen walls leave profound marks on identity, belonging, and the possibility of home.
Through co-created narratives and testimonies gathered from different AZCs around the Netherlands, I am Grateful (?!) makes the hidden visible. It gives form to the complex emotions of living in transit—where destinations are uncertain, control is lost, and comfort must always remain temporary.
