Drifting Destinies II, Houda Terjuman, 2021

When I look at Terjuman’s work my mind automatically makes the jump from her lived experience to the very prescient displacement thousands of people are experiencing today. The broken land, the solitary items floating in tableau. There is no rubble but when viewing these works I see that these scenes as what victims surviving war, genocide and climate change are suffering at the hands of entities acting with outsize power. They wield this power with little thought towards being responsible about how it impacts millions. 

What we see in Terjuman’s work is what those whose lives are so irredeemably affected have left to start their lives over again with as they rebuild their new homes; doing so in the shadow of their grief in new and unfamiliar places. Her strikingly beautiful art is haunting and when the viewer takes a moment to imagine what it means to be torn from your homeland without warning or choice it leaves you with indelible empathy for how others are experiencing our collective human existence.

The imagery she creates resonates with the feeling of being uprooted and attempting to assimilate but also not feeling like you belong. Only something small or a few possessions that you have been able to bring reminds you of home and becomes the anchor that helps you build a new life in a strange land, one that is likely to not be very welcoming to you. Ultimately Terjuman has found strength and adaptability in her lived experiences, a developed resilience that echoes across the human population of displaced persons.