Rooted is a photo book project by Dutch photographer Henk Wildschut documenting the micro-gardens that bloom along the makeshift homes in refugee camps of Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon.
Many of the tents featured lovely decorated gardens, potted plants, and flower patches. The seedlings, bought from nearby villages, bloomed by ingenious irrigation systems consisting of water bottles filled with a mix of sand and water, dispensing moisture the plants needed in the desert heat. And the irony of putting down roots in a displacement camp was not lost on the Wildschut. “What emerged was not only the importance of a bit of greenery but also the way the temporariness of the camp dragged out in a seemingly permanent state, with little prospect of moving on or returning home,” he says.
Just like plants that endure under the most inopportune circumstances, the project highlights the complex plight of being displaced and stuck in limbo. Interpret them as hope or surrender, but for the refugees these gardens are reminders of home, nourished against all odds as a comforting microcosm in their uprooted life.
Wildschut’s Rooted is available for purchase here. See more of his work on his website.
Images © Henk Wildschut / with permission