Post-immigration stress is a mix of complex emotions  – exhilaration, culture shock, homesickness, sadness, chronic depression and loneliness  – that accompany a migrant as they transition to a new locality. My own migration to the Netherlands brought with it a new and vague form of anxiety that eventually became a major mental crisis. The Netherlands is a country in Western Europe known for its upbeat lifestyle, permissiveness and natural beauty. As an Iranian migrating to this part of Europe during its so-called ‘immigration crisis,’ I became quickly overwhelmed by the weight of my existence and blinded to all the positive things that I expected when I was back in Iran dreaming of this place.

What I had in my mind about the Netherlands was an almost magical inversion of my life in Iran: luxurious freedom, constant entertainment and highly accessible social networks. What I encountered after arriving in the Netherlands, however, was an extremely insular culture, closed curtains and empty streets. My photo series Allochtonal consists of negative color photos I have taken in numerous locations throughout the district of Feijenoord, the tonal inversion in the negative images symbolizing the cognitive dissonance that is an integral part of my adjustment disorder.  The title of the series plays on the highly controversial Dutch term allochtoon, used to denote persons with immigrant backgrounds as distinct from the ethnically Dutch.