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Today I made a start with the visual analysis of the Dutch front cover of the passport.

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A friend of mine pointed out that there is also a list published by the Dutch government, IND, immigration services. Where people can keep their pasport.

Follow the link to see more:
https://ind.nl/paginas/afstand-nationaliteit.aspx
https://ind.nl/Paginas/Landenlijst-behoud-nationaliteit.aspx

What I found out is this:

Taiwan

Bij verkrijging van de Nederlandse nationaliteit verliest u de Taiwanese nationaliteit niet automatisch. Van u wordt niet verlangd dat u afstand doet van deze nationaliteit.

So this does mean that I still have a Taiwanese nationality? Although this is not shown directly on my Dutch passport?

What I find particulary strange, cause why did my parents choose for me to lose my nationality. Or does this process differ when adopting a baby? In a way, the starting point for me this process was a phone call two years ago to the Taiwanese embassy. They told me I need to write my own proposal to regain the Taiwanese pasport in mandarin, and I need to undergo 1 year of military training, because I was born before 1994, since then is has been only 3 to 4 months, in order to retrieve this.

I feel very uneasy about the fact my parents never told me this, or spoke to me about this. Maybe they did not know as well?

In the following link there is written about that the Dutch passport give access to 171 countries around the world. This list is based on the most recent Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index from 2015.
https://www.iamexpat.nl/read-and-discuss/expat-page/articles/dutch-passport-one-most-powerful-world

I know that the Taiwanese passport is the 25th powerful passport of the world. So in this sense I can only rank up or level up by attaining one of these: 173 countries; Germany, United Kingdom or 172 countries; Finland, Sweden, USA.

Via https://ind.nl/en/dutch-citizenship/Pages/by-birth-or-acknowledgement.aspx

I found this paragraph.

Adoption
A minor child gains Dutch citizenship by adoption abroad if the following conditions are met:
One of the parents is a Dutch citizen.
The adoption has been realised in accordance with the Hague Adoption Convention or Book 10 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW).
The family ties with the original parents are fully broken.

It does not get better...

009 - concept text, under construction

Central Question:

How can I use the visual regime of the passport as a vehicle in order to clarify my own “power” relationship and levels of agency regarding my Taiwanese-Dutch nationality?

Visual Cultures is altijd een regime, als introductie, als het ergens belangrijk om dat Visual Regime te analyseren is dat wel voor mij, refererend naar 1991. Aanscherpen definiëring voor jezelf en de lezer.

Feedforward Jan:

Question: How can I use the visual regime of the passport as a vehicle in order to clarify my own “power” relationship and levels of agency, considering my Taiwanese-Dutch nationality?

Agency, reclameren, wat me toen was ontzegt. Door onderzoek te doen en te formuleren. Die ik daarvoor ontwikkelt die creëren mijn agency, en die agency is nodig in VC, op basis van Visual Regime. Visual Regime, handel in stereotypes, mensen die de power hebben om die stereotypes, power of definition. 

My agency, belangrijk deel om die power terug te halen.

Agency en power omdraaien.

Effect van het paspoort, power paper. 3e machtigste paspoort van de wereld. 

Als NL staatsburger heb je grondrechten, recht op van allebei dingen. Staan ook plichten tegenover. De kern is dat je die rechten, politieke rechten onverkort toe, ongeacht je culturele identiteit. Die onvoorwaardelijke rechten in toenemende mate worden bekneld door steeds hardere culture eisen. Als je het niet over je religieuze hart kan krijgen, dan zeggen heel veel mensen in NL, dan ben jij geen echte Nederlander. Dan heb je ook geen recht op het uitoefenen van die dingen. Terwijl het precies andersom is. Een van onze politieke grondrechten is om vanuit religieuze grondredenen mensen te discrimineren. 

Op dat moment gaan die culturele vooroordelen al spelen. 

3 heel breed spectrum van bejegenen die ik naar me hoofd krijg. Dat die culturele scheidslijn er wel degelijk is. Het paspoort is een sterk document, maar het kan niet die culturele druk weerstaan. Het geeft je geen garantie of vrijbrief dat mensen op basis van dat document tot de hunne zullen rekenen. 

Subquestion 1

1. What is a passport?
2. What is the visual regime of this document, specifically the Dutch/Taiwanese passport?
3. How do I want to use this visual as a vehicle to clarify my own take on this matter?

Subquestion 2

1. Which power relationship is in place regarding an individual and the supplier of the passport, in this case the government?
2. Which levels of agency am I engaged with as an citizen?
3. And considering my Taiwanese-Dutch Nationality?

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Maps of ancient Taiwan, 1600s.

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Trending topic on Social and Media right now, my stand on this matter is a hard no for the duo Dolce & Gabbana. Once they were huge influencers, before dis became something commercial, to stand up for gay rights and in a way when wearing people would feel empowered as a sex/gender-based minority. But what about racial minorities. Dolce and Gabbana, out, exit, bye. Felicia. (yes it is a reference to that one movie)

In het kort:
Modeduo Dolce & Gabbana zou normaal gezien vandaag een modeshow in Shanghai geven, maar heeft die plannen op het laatste moment afgeblazen. De 2 ontwerpers worden door veel Chinezen namelijk beschuldigd van racisme nadat ze een campagne gelanceerd hadden waarin een Chinees model een Italiaanse maaltijd probeert op te eten met eetstokjes.

De bewuste campagnevideo werd als eerste op het Chinese sociale netwerk Weibo Monday geplaatst en werd daar na minder dan 24 uur al offline gehaald. Te laat natuurlijk, want ondertussen circuleerden de beelden al op zowat alle Chinese platforms. Ook op de officiële Instagram- en Facebookaccounts van het merk bleven ze gewoon staan.

Source: HLN / Diet Prada (instagram).

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Source MOMA
Alighiero Boetti
Map of the World
1989

A map is supposed to provide a definitive representation of the physical and political boundaries of countries, continents, rivers, and oceans. Italian artist Alighiero e Boetti commissioned Afghani artisans to make this embroidered map in 1989. It includes several oddities and some tragic ironies, all of which underscore that nothing is permanent on our earth. Certain countries do not appear on the map because they did not yet exist (Ukraine and Belarus, for example). Some nations, such as Israel, are not represented because the Taliban regime of Afghanistan did not then recognize their existence. Some countries that are represented, such as Zaire and the USSR, have since changed political identities and no longer exist.

Medium
Embroidery on fabric

Dimensions
46 1/4" x 7' 3 3/4" x 2" (117.5 x 227.7 x 5.1 cm)

More info and biography via Wikipedia.

What I find most interesting about his work is how he creates his own world, in which I can draw parallels with the work of Raf Simons, especially his underground collection AW 2005, which was published off catwalk. 

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Amsterdam

1991, het is de nacht van 4 december naar 5 december. Twee mensen, man en vrouw, hand in hand, staan samen te wachten voor het grote raam van vliegveld Schiphol. Ze kijken reikhalzend uit naar de lucht -alsof ze een wonder gadeslaan. Dan volgt er een kreet, ontsnapt uit enthousiasme vanuit een mond. Hart sneller kloppend, gevuld van blijdschap wordt er gewacht. Totdat, ik via de luchtbrug, naar binnen wordt gedragen, met nog meer andere baby’s. Ik was nog maar elf weken oud, ik was in de armen van een vreemde aan boord gegaan in een sub-tropisch klimaat, en nu aangekomen in een Noord-Europees zeeklimaat, koud en kil, overgeheveld van het ene paar handen naar die van mijn toekomstige wettelijke voogd en moeder. 

Signed,

Being formerly known as Wang Wei-Che,

P. W. Kruithof

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SKELETON of RESEARCH Paper:

0.5 A4, Intro: why did I pick this subject?

1 A4, Central Question or Problem: what question do I want to answer?

2 A4, Relevance and mapping context of the question: Where is this situated?

2 A4, Methods, Approach and Goals: in which practice do I see myself answering this question?

0.5 A4, Hypothesis: what is my expected outcome?

5 A4, The Core: Notes, Insights, Research; underlying motives for this project.

2.5 A4, Argumentation of whether left or right, and Experiments: Prototypes

1 A4, Conclusion, potential Solutions and (temp) Results; where do I situate I myself?

1 A4, Bibliography and Sources

1 A4, Short Reflection; what now? How to cope with the outcome.

Total 16,5 - 17 A4.

Min. 1500 words - Max. 2000 words.

Cover, 

Taiwanese Passport / Dutch Passport

Photo, myself in the plane Photo, of parents at Schiphol, Photo of my mother at the end.

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Formulating a research question. Right now I am stuck in choosing or formulating a proper research question.

How can I create a wearable passport containing my double heritage or nationality?
How can I use the passport as a vehicle to tackle the questioning of identity/nationality?
How can I create a wearable to question the power relationship of my passport and my outer appearance?
How can I use the visual regime of the passport in order to clarify my own relationship regarding a double nationality?
How can I use the visual regime of the passport in order to question the power relationship of ownership and the individual?
How can I ... in order to question the power relationship of the passport and the individual, me?

My expected outcome of this project would be creating a textile piece of cloth containing my struggle or issue regarding my double nationality. Am I dutch? Am I taiwanese? Am I both?

For this project I am hugely inspired by Raf Simons, in particular the 2005 collection of Poltergeist.




What I find fascinating is how he uses graphical elements and applications on garments to create a story about himself relating to the world around us.

"Despite the runway being absent of the highly sought after graphics for this season, Simons looked to revisit his personal milestones in his past for the two part FW2005 collection. Raf’s display to his connection to music is undoubtedly the primer to his most compelling garments. FW05 was one of the last displays of such meaning, departing from such endeavors and focusing more so on modernist, sleek cuts inspired by euro subcultures. Graphics throughout this season were labeled with cryptic lyrics from The Cure, graphics inspired by the 1982 film “Poltergeist”, and even a few references to experimental musician John Cage. The hoodies, tees and sweaters were massive and overwhelming, patched with what looks like a collage of Raf’s personal visual displays, with the help of peter de potter, of his inspirations and nostalgia.

Just like the old days
Caressing an old man
And painting a lifeless face
Just a piece of new meat in a clean room
The soldiers close in under a yellow moon
All shadows and deliverance
Under a black flag
A hundred years of blood
Crimson"
Src All Shadows