Series - FotoSlovo 2026 - Category « Experimental photography »

Mehret – Mercy is a photographic series exploring belonging, inheritance, and the fragile construction of home. Photographer Martha Bakker has lived nearly her entire life in her (grand)parents’ house in Amsterdam, a place layered with memory, continuity, and generational presence. Within its walls, identity feels rooted and traceable. In contrast, the origins of her adopted daughter Mehret, born in Ethiopia, remain partly unknown. The series began from a personal urgency to give form to what could not be spoken: how do you offer stability to someone whose beginnings cannot be fully told?

Through fine art prints, cyanotypes, and works printed on wood, Bakker weaves together landscapes, intimate gestures, and symbolic textures. The materials themselves echo the themes of rootedness and imprint. Cyanotype, with its deep blue tonalities, evokes memory and absence. Printing on wood introduces grain, structure, and organic support, resonating with ideas of growth and lineage.

The photographs were created over several years in locations meaningful to both mother and daughter, including Amsterdam and Ethiopia. Rather than illustrating adoption directly, the series operates through atmosphere and visual resonance. The work asks what it means to build ground beneath someone, not by rewriting origins, but by creating space for them to exist.

“Mehret” translates to “mercy”. The title reflects both the daughter’s name and the act of care embedded within the project.

The series positions personal narrative within a broader contemporary conversation about displacement, heritage, and chosen kinship. It does not attempt to resolve these questions; instead, it visualizes the quiet labor of belonging.