On Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024 at 3 p.m. theater, film and television maker Nora Akacher will open the exhibition "Undocumented and Aged," featuring photographs by Mona van den Berg. Her work has won multiple awards in different categories of the Zilveren Camera, the most prestigious photojournalism award in the Netherlands.The exhibition, organized by De Regenboog Groep in cooperation with the Mozes and Aaron Church, lasts until March 22, 2024, is open on Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 4 p.m. and is free to enter (Waterloo Square 207, Amsterdam).
Harrowing and confrontational are the images of the exhibition Undocumented and aged. Photographer Mona van den Berg followed twenty-three people who have lived in the Netherlands for decades, but for various reasons never received residence papers. They are now old, physically disabled and surviving on the margins of society. By giving them a face in their own tattered surroundings, we get a picture of their hidden existence. Writer Ernest van der Kwast writes with the photos, "These are people who cleaned our homes, who made careers of doctors and lawyers possible and who built lives in the Netherlands. Some have even had children here."
Mona van den Berg fights against injustice. She did so as a social worker and asylum lawyer and so does so now as a photographer. She chooses social topics such as Syrian refugees, the space between genders and the black-lives-matter movement. Van den Berg says of her photographs from the exhibition, "If my images are raw, that's what it is. And if that rawness evokes discomfort, that's not a bad thing. The fact that these living conditions occur in the Netherlands is okay for me to see."
Van den Berg's work has been published in NRC, Trouw, de Volkskrant, Het Parool, Vrij Nederland, Opzij and various international media, among others. She has also made several photo books, including the book of the same name accompanying this exhibition, published by Jurgen Maas Publishers.
The Amsterdam-based De Regenboog Groep foundation is committed to improving the living situation of people on the fringes of society. Its focus is on homelessness, mental health problems, addiction and poverty. In recent years, it has given extra attention to elderly undocumented people because they are among the most vulnerable groups in the city. The Moses and Aaron Church has traditionally been a place of mercy, where the Community of Sant'Egidio offers closeness and friendship to vulnerable residents of the city.