Gomma Photography Grant 2023
HOND
Photographer
Nadia Ettwein
HOND
22 Feb, 2024
I was told that my mother threw me away like a dog - I've never stopped believing that. My sister was three when my mom left. My father joined the South African Army, and I was legally written off. Adopted. Bereft of love. Somewhere you get lost. You find yourself in situations of instability driven by post-apartheid society, religion, and child welfare. Trying to grow up as a solid human amid the neglect. Afflicted by ancestry and heredity. HOND (Afrikaans for dog) explores my personal journey with generational trauma. Questioning the perspective that we are a possible version of ourselves due to the human consequences of our environment. My work deals with self-identity and the disruptiveness in our humanity. There is beauty regardless of the devastation. Endings and beginnings, balance and imbalance. The 'inbetweenness' that forms a collective memory. Abuse isn't poetic, and neither was being raised as an Afrikaans girl
About the photographer
Nadia Ettwein
Nadia Ettwein (b.1984) is a contemporary lens-based artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Her background in Information Sciences has guided her process in photography by the systematic creation and preservation of her own stories. Nadia’s work is an introspective exploration of social issues, personal identity, and domesticity in South Africa. Through her works, she authors and witnesses the individuality and diversity of womanhood. Recently named a CAP (Contemporary African Photography Award) 2023 winner, her work has been exhibited as part of the group exhibition 'Shutterland' byLizamore and Associates in Johannesburg as well as a collective exhibition,‘(IM)Materiality’ by Notamuseum in Lisbon. She was featured in a group exhibition ‘Everything, Everyone, Always’ by Through The Lens Collective. She resonates with the complexities of the human experience, reflecting on her own identity and abuse. Nadia continues to work on projects in analogue, digital and printed mediums.
