Hello I’m Florian Braakman

”[…] Basically, what brought me here after all, was just love. Love, and also the journey, was calling for me, to go and explore what is going on in the rest of the world.”
Silas Khalipha, South Africa - “Everybody here think’s I’m a millionaire”, 2018

In Between Homes is an ongoing project in which Florian joins immigrated neighbours from Delfshaven while they travel to their countries of origin: Rino Alvarez to Curaçao (2017), Silas Khalipha to South Africa (2018), Tony Haniffa to Sri Lanka (2022) and Hendrik Kasanradji to Surinam (2024) (project in process).

The project consists of currently three photo-films (4th in the making): sequences of photographic images, edited with sound. The project originated from Delfshaven’s Finest — Florian’s ongoing research on the neighbourhood Delfshaven in Rotterdam, where he lives. The photo-films overlay Florian’s photos of the journey with a voice-over of the neighbour sharing their memories and experiences of immigration. Commonalities between the lives of the protagonists reveal themselves: the feeling of living between two worlds, a longing for home, cultural histories and the different socio-political situations that they find themselves in.

Florian has met the neighbours that he works with spontaneously: in shops, at the market, at a street-party, or in a café. Even more than in other projects, In Between Homes is made in active collaboration with the subjects that are represented in the works. Florian invites them to the studio where they discuss the material. How do they see themselves? What do they think of how they are represented?

In Between Homes starts from the premise that so-called integration is a meeting point of cultures, rather than assimilation and adaptation. Being neighbours means living with each other, which is a reciprocal process. In Between Homes makes this explicit: we are part of each others’ lives, regardless of background or borders.

Rino Alvarez, Curaçao - “Ik ben een Rotterdammer” (I’m a Rotterdammer), 2017-2022
Silas Khalipa, South Africa - “Everybody here think’s I’m a millionaire”, 2018-2022
Tony Haniffa, Sri Lanka - “One leg here, one leg there”, 2022-2023

Links to movies available on request.

Stills from the 4K picture movie, with interviews and ambient sound.

Editing: Florian Braakman & Walter Costa
Sound design by Charly van Rest

Project supported by the Mondriaan Fund and Droom & Daad Foundation