Finding your own identity, that community in which you fit best, a place where you feel like you truly belong. It is a challenging, on-going process, a personal journey for connection. But how to navigate this in an increasingly fast paced world where your sense of self is always defined by your relation with, and to others? Evolving into your own, autonomous being is a process of growth and development but also a journey of discovering and coming to understand yourself and your surroundings. Because, even when you have found who you want to be, how do you know which community you want to belong to? Or which one will not fit you at all? Do you need the help of others in discovering your identity, or is this something that you need to figure out on your own first?

The personal quest to grasp that feeling of belonging is a struggle we all share at VOX-POP as a bunch of young creatives, finding their way through life and society. That’s why we decided to make the group exhibition ‘Longing for Belonging’ at LAB 111. We’ve selected five young artists to reflect upon the search for identity and ‘a sense of belonging’. Their projects are unique and they all work with different forms of media, materials and styles to visualize their personal journeys. The exhibition shows a diverse selection of art, including: photography, fashion design, sculptures, videos, poetry and paintings. 

Sondi (Anke Rumohr,1994) explores the feeling of being ‘at home’ among migrant communities, in her project Places of Belonging (2021-2022). Inês Queirós (1989) links geology and art to explores how you can feel at home in a foreign landscape in her work Erratic (2015 – 2022). INSI (Yonah de Beer, 1996) will exhibit Performance on Identity (2020) together with his most recent work A Response on Performance on Identity (2022), a multimedia reflection on his growth as a person and artist. Luna Brouwers (1998), explores her own feelings by the use of photos and poems of vulnerable moments in her project In search of  (2021). Last but not least, Marlien Peeters (1997) will present her abundant fashion collection The Zotte Housewifes (2021) . A personal project about the struggle between metropolitan beliefs and village customs.

On the 12th of February we will host the fesitive opening of the exhibition. Would you like to be there to meet the artists and raise glasses with us? Please sign up here. We have divided the opening up into two shifts: shift 1 from 17:00 until 18:15 &  shift 2 from 18:30 until 19:45. Entrance is free, however due to the COVID-19 measures there are only a limited amount of spots, so registration is necessary. 

After the opening the exhibition will be free to visit till the 13th of March at LAB111. In addition to the exhibition, LAB111 has created a special film program related to the exhibition, showing: Boyhood, Minding the Gap, Francis Ha, and Cidade de Deus.