How do young people navigate displacement, belonging, memory, and home? This autumn, fifteen Ukrainian teenagers explored this question through a one-week art and design course in The Hague as part of the annual aHOUSEforHOME workshop series.
Over five intensive days, participants collaborated with photographer Hanna Hrabarska, sound artist Anna Khvyl, architect Nazar Gresko, and urban designer Anastasiia Palii to creatively investigate The Hague and its surroundings. They explored the city from two perspectives: as spatial researchers, understanding how the city works and lives, and as storytellers, learning how to think about spaces, describe them, and uncover hidden connections.
“aHOUSEforHOME really strengthens young voices by providing a programme that fosters growth and cultural connection,” – Nathalie van den Heuvel, VATAHA’s Grants and Policy Advisor
The programme focused on three key spatial structures of The Hague: the coastal zone, the green belt and dunes, and the city itself. Working with sound and images, participants interwove their impressions with memories and stories of their favorite Ukrainian cities: the places they grew up in or wish to return to. The outcome of this exploration was a collective art piece- “My City Is-?”, exploring how connections to the past remain as a new place slowly becomes home.
The Autumn School was also part of The Hague University of Applied Sciences’ research into the well-being of young Ukrainian displaced persons, cofunded by the Municipality of The Hague.
“The Autumn School The Hague was part of our ongoing research into themes of well-being and belonging of Ukrainian teenagers who moved to The Netherlands as a result of the war. Seeing as these themes can be quite abstract, we combine traditional research of doing qualitative interviews with teens with arts-based research; artistic expression enables you to express and reflect in ways that come less easily in a conversation or an interview. Supporting the Autumn School and collaborating with VATAHA Foundation and Urban Reform was also a way to give back with our research.” – Stefanie Schuddebeurs (MA), Urban Social Development Research Group, The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
The Autumn School culminated with student work being shown at the prestigious theater venue Amare in The Hague at the Stadmakersfestival, an annual event that brings together approximately 500 people passionate about cities and urban development. Throughout the day, visitors explored our exhibition and joined us at our stand at the Stadfmakersfestival interview marathon. Researcher Stefanie Schuddebeurs gave a talk together with Alina Kharyk, an Autumn School participant and a member of the photography group.
Alina described using her camera as a compass, tracing the contours of the Netherlands as her new home, a place of freedom, yet also full of rules. Stefanie shared insights from her research with Ukrainian teenagers, who all explored the question: “What does home mean to me?” Their stories ranged from finding friends and thriving at school to navigating fear, sleepless nights, and an uncertain future.
Photographer: Anna Bielchenko
One moment stood out: a 13-year-old girl, newly arrived in the Netherlands, helped create an abstract “city sound symphony” from recordings of trains, trams, and street sounds. At the exhibition opening, her godmother told Stefanie she’d finally seen the girl smile again, a small but hopeful moment.
These stories reveal why spaces like aHOUSEforHOME matter: they create room to feel, to create, and to imagine a future where home can be found or rediscovered.
A House for Home — project initiated by VATAHA and Urban Reform in collaboration with The Hague University of Applied Sciences, in partnership with Municipality of The Hague and STROOM, supported by Jeugdvakantieloket and Gravin van Bylandt Stichting.