Rooted

‘Rooted’ is the third and last part of an unintended trilogy by Henk Wildschut on the lives of refugees and migrants. The exquisitely bound book focuses on the many refugee camp residents who find hope, consolation, and dignity in nurturing a few plants. These miniature gardens are often just a few tin cans planted with flowers, or of a handful of seeds struggling to sprout in a patch of meagre soil. They symbolize a longing for something resembling a normal existence. Wildschut has photographed micro-gardens in refugee camps in Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon, and recounts the stories of the gardeners who are now stranded, with little choice but to put down roots in foreign soil.