Hoo Roo Project (2025)

Taken in and around Dandenong
Archival Inkjet prints, handmade recycled wood frames & book “the silver bullet (snail)”

I am from a third generation Dutch family. My grandparents moved from the Netherlands, building a family during the wave of post war immigration. 

Hoo Roo is a series uncovering narratives in relation to old slides and pairing them with my own pictures. How do memories become more estranged over time and how can I preserve them?


My Opa who inspired this work - he built things. Houses for people to live in. However mundane manual labour may seem, his work left a lasting impact on the people of Dandenong.
Like a home I attached to the brown and red bricks that occupy his houses, as well to memories of eating hagelslag, sugar strawberries and soups. Carrying the guilt that never remembered more.  

Since his passing a decade ago my family has drifted apart for many reasons, leaving me to investigate objects left of him. 

Can you understand family identity if it is too late? The identity of a fraud who lost his place. Maybe the answers lie in looking inwards. 

Opa would often say “Hoo roo” before leaving time and time again. 




Hoo roo to legacy, Hoo roo to memories lost.