Kalkidan Hoex’s Perspective on Unions

“Adopted from Ethiopia and raised in the Netherlands, I always felt I lived in between two different worlds. I explore the intricacies of my identity and relate to others through my jewelry and other interdisciplinary art works. Between not being one nor the other, a third world started to exist. The work I create is strongly linked to how I experience my mixed identity. The objects I make are an expression of how I perceive these worlds. I want to show the realm where a blur of worlds exits. My experiences create a surrealistic place that conveys a feeling of culture that does not belong to one fixed place. Conveying through imagery how I adapted, conscious and unconscious to both cultures. I use the in-between world to comprehend my reality and create the belief that I know where I belong.”

During the talk Perspectives on Unions together with Museum Arnhem on June 18th, 2023 Kalkidan Hoex showed her film I am Motherland. She also showed the audience her jewelry and the concepts behind it.

“TheNEWtribe is about how I ground myself. It serves as my safe space and coping mechanism for the mental fractures endured. Where I find my sense of identity. This world is deeply rooted in representational, educational interdisciplinary and within empowerment of the position I take.”