BredaPhoto 2026: Astrid Hulsmann Selects Five Highlights from 'Our Songs Came Through'

Key facts

• BredaPhoto 2026 is the twelfth edition of the biennial festival, held from 11 September to 25 October 2026.
• The festival features work by more than forty photographers and artists under the title 'Our Songs Came Through'.
• The theme addresses consolation and resilience after war, loss, and other traumatic experiences.
• Çiğdem Yüksel's 'De bloeiende tuin' comprises four tufted tapestries, approximately eight metres wide, depicting five residents of Breda's Hoge Vucht neighbourhood.
• Noor Abed's 25-minute film installation 'we walk in our sleep' interweaves daily life in Palestine with traditions, rituals, and a spiritual world.
• Yuki Kihara's 'Shipwrecks of Empire' is a site-specific installation with near life-size images of shipwrecks and Sāmoan boats, exploring European colonialism in the Pacific.
• Eva Roefs's project 'Brabant' returns to her native village of Loosbroek, combining images of local youth with memories of her own youth.
• Fouad Hallak's 'A Mind in the Past, Eyes on Tomorrow' shows photos from his first return to Syria one month after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024; he fled Syria in 2016 and settled in the Netherlands.