Jamila Alemi
Jamila Alemi is a Dutch-Afghan graphic designer based in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
She recently graduated from ArtEZ Arnhem with a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design.
Her projects touch upon a wide range of topics, from found footage and social media culture
to an installation exploring refugee representation in the media.
Je Kunt Een Boom Niet Uit Zijn Grond Trekken En Verwachten Dat Hij Hetzelfde Verder Groeit
2026 (Graduation work)
Je Kunt Een Boom Niet Uit Zijn Grond Trekken En Verwachten Dat Hij Hetzelfde Verder Groeit is an installation exploring the negative perceptions of refugees and the role the media plays in shaping them. Taking its title from a conversation with the artist's father about what it feels like to flee one's country, the work brings together video, photography, and text to contrast public representations with personal experiences, offering a more intimate perspective on what it means to leave one's home behind.
The video responds to how the media contributes to negative perceptions of refugees through its use of language, camera perspectives, and recurring imagery. Expressions such as "a wave of refugees" or "an asylum tsunami," combined with aerial shots of large groups, shape the way refugees are perceived, often reducing individuals to anonymous masses rather than people with families, memories, and personal histories. Rather than documenting refugees themselves, the video reflects on how these narratives are constructed and the perspectives they create.
Surrounding the video are photographs and handwritten texts by the artist's father, written in response to questions about leaving Syria. Together, they form a personal counterpoint to the media narratives presented in the video. The smaller photographs offer a glimpse into the life he was forced to leave behind. Some focus on the landscapes and places that shaped his memories, while others capture moments with family and everyday life. A large-scale family portrait, printed at 170 × 200 cm, places viewers face to face with the people so often reduced to distant news images.
The handwritten texts remain exactly as they were written, preserving the artist's father's wording, sentence structure, and spelling. Rather than rewriting or refining his responses, the work deliberately leaves his voice untouched, allowing him to speak for himself instead of being spoken for. Alongside the installation, a small publication provides English translations of the texts together with additional photographs from the family archive, extending the personal narrative beyond the exhibition space while keeping the original handwritten pages at the centre of the work.
By placing media representations alongside personal memories, Je Kunt Een Boom Niet Uit Zijn Grond Trekken En Verwachten Dat Hij Hetzelfde Verder Groeit invites viewers to reconsider how refugees are represented and how these representations shape personal opinions. Rather than speaking about refugees as a collective, the installation returns attention to individual lives, relationships, and the lasting impact of displacement.
︎Click here to see the video
The video responds to how the media contributes to negative perceptions of refugees through its use of language, camera perspectives, and recurring imagery. Expressions such as "a wave of refugees" or "an asylum tsunami," combined with aerial shots of large groups, shape the way refugees are perceived, often reducing individuals to anonymous masses rather than people with families, memories, and personal histories. Rather than documenting refugees themselves, the video reflects on how these narratives are constructed and the perspectives they create.
Surrounding the video are photographs and handwritten texts by the artist's father, written in response to questions about leaving Syria. Together, they form a personal counterpoint to the media narratives presented in the video. The smaller photographs offer a glimpse into the life he was forced to leave behind. Some focus on the landscapes and places that shaped his memories, while others capture moments with family and everyday life. A large-scale family portrait, printed at 170 × 200 cm, places viewers face to face with the people so often reduced to distant news images.
The handwritten texts remain exactly as they were written, preserving the artist's father's wording, sentence structure, and spelling. Rather than rewriting or refining his responses, the work deliberately leaves his voice untouched, allowing him to speak for himself instead of being spoken for. Alongside the installation, a small publication provides English translations of the texts together with additional photographs from the family archive, extending the personal narrative beyond the exhibition space while keeping the original handwritten pages at the centre of the work.
By placing media representations alongside personal memories, Je Kunt Een Boom Niet Uit Zijn Grond Trekken En Verwachten Dat Hij Hetzelfde Verder Groeit invites viewers to reconsider how refugees are represented and how these representations shape personal opinions. Rather than speaking about refugees as a collective, the installation returns attention to individual lives, relationships, and the lasting impact of displacement.
︎Click here to see the video