Melkweg Expo is an exhibition space for innovative, contemporary photography and a platform for young artists. Studio Tjade Bouma curated and designed several exhibitions at this contemporary art space.
I Went on a Holiday to the Country You Fled From
Photographer Iris Haverkamp Begemann went on a holiday to the country Mexican author and trans woman Alejandra Ortiz fled from—Mexico. After forming a unique friendship based on mutual trust and understanding, their connection sparked this communal multimedia project in 2021. Led by Alejandra’s instructions and hand-printed maps drawn from memory, Iris travelled to Mexico to visit meaningful locations from Alejandra’s childhood. The map guided Iris to places where Alejandra felt both loved and cared for, but also extremely unsafe, marginalised and rejected by her own family. Shown alongside Alejandra’s personal messages and childhood stories, Iris’s photo series presents a visual diary capturing Alejandra’s memories of a birthplace she had to leave behind, and to which she cannot return.
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Eyes on Robert
For the Eyes on Robert exhibition, together with Melkweg Expo (in co-curation by Fleurie Kloostra) and Holland Festival, studio Tjade Bouma invited a diverse group of contemporary photographers: Ari Versluis, Daan Couzijn, Dustin Thierry, Dylan van Vliet, Ferry van der Nat, Henri Verhoef, Martijn Mendel and Vytautas Kumza to produce new work inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe.
Robert Mapplethorpe: photographer, enfant terrible and queer. His transgressive work is characterised by an uncompromising curiosity for sexuality, the body and eroticism. His iconic nudes, celebrity portraits and documentation of New York’s S&M scene in the 1970s and ‘80s pushed artistic boundaries and broke taboos.
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Photographer Iris Haverkamp Begemann went on a holiday to the country Mexican author and trans woman Alejandra Ortiz fled from—Mexico. After forming a unique friendship based on mutual trust and understanding, their connection sparked this communal multimedia project in 2021. Led by Alejandra’s instructions and hand-printed maps drawn from memory, Iris travelled to Mexico to visit meaningful locations from Alejandra’s childhood. The map guided Iris to places where Alejandra felt both loved and cared for, but also extremely unsafe, marginalised and rejected by her own family. Shown alongside Alejandra’s personal messages and childhood stories, Iris’s photo series presents a visual diary capturing Alejandra’s memories of a birthplace she had to leave behind, and to which she cannot return.
Eyes on Robert
For the Eyes on Robert exhibition, together with Melkweg Expo (in co-curation by Fleurie Kloostra) and Holland Festival, studio Tjade Bouma invited a diverse group of contemporary photographers: Ari Versluis, Daan Couzijn, Dustin Thierry, Dylan van Vliet, Ferry van der Nat, Henri Verhoef, Martijn Mendel and Vytautas Kumza to produce new work inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe.
Robert Mapplethorpe: photographer, enfant terrible and queer. His transgressive work is characterised by an uncompromising curiosity for sexuality, the body and eroticism. His iconic nudes, celebrity portraits and documentation of New York’s S&M scene in the 1970s and ‘80s pushed artistic boundaries and broke taboos.
