From 11 December 2026 to 11 April 2027, the Nederlands Fotomuseum presents Dag Nederland, an exhibition by photographer and filmmaker Marwan Magroun. Existing work from different periods is brought together with new photography created especially for the exhibition. At its heart is the question: who gets to define what it means to be Dutch?

The title Dag Nederland deliberately carries two meanings. In Dutch, ‘dag’ can be both a greeting and a goodbye. Magroun uses this ambiguity to examine how the Netherlands sees itself. Who is seen as Dutch? Who recognises themselves in the image of the Netherlands? And who gets to help shape that image?

“I grew up in this country and feel at home here, yet I haven’t always seen myself reflected in its image. With this exhibition, I want not only to question that image, but also to claim space within it.”

A different image of the Netherlands

For his new work, Magroun travelled across the country. He uses familiar elements of the Dutch landscape and national visual culture, such as a polder, windmill, flag, church and dike, as settings for portraits that bring together different expressions of Dutch identity.

Magroun works closely with the people he photographs. Together, they add new layers of meaning to familiar images. In doing so, identity emerges not as something fixed, but as something that is continuously shaped and redefined.

This approach connects to themes that have long been present in Magroun’s photography: identity, representation, family and intimacy. Dag Nederland therefore also includes earlier work, including the series Intimacy and Jonge Moslims (Young Muslims).

In Intimacy, Magroun turns his camera towards love and physical closeness among first-generation immigrants. The series began with a photograph of his mother and stepfather in their bedroom and developed into a series of tender portraits. Six photographs from the series are part of the Rijksmuseum collection.

In Jonge Moslims, created as part of a series of interviews by journalist Somajeh Ghaeminia for the Dutch newspaper Trouw, Magroun similarly focuses on the people behind social perceptions and stereotypes.

About Marwan Magroun

Marwan Magroun (Rotterdam, 1985) is a photographer and filmmaker. As a self-taught photographer, he developed his own visual language in which social themes such as identity and representation play an important role. Since 2017, he has worked for various newspapers, magazines and organisations.

Magroun received the Paul Peters Photography Prize in 2020 and the Dutch Photographers SO Award in 2021, among others. In 2022, he was appointed Fotograaf der Nederlanden (Photographer of the Netherlands). With Dag Nederland, he looks back on the period in which he portrayed the country from a range of perspectives.

Dag Nederland is on view at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam from 11 December 2026 to 11 April 2027.