Ariël Peper

  • Projects
Geluk Zoekers, 2026
This Project explores what it means to grow up in an in-between space. It emerges from my own experience of living in a refugee centre (as part of a co-living project) where I observe and interact with the children who share the environment with me. Rather than approaching their lives through statistics, politics or stereotypes, I focus on the small traces of everyday life: play, boredom, waiting, shared spaces, objects and the way children make a place their own.

My position within the refugee centre is an essential part of the work. I am not looking at this environment from the outside, but from within, through an ongoing relationship with the place and the people who live there. At the same time, I reflect on my own childhood in a women’s shelter, creating dialogue between memories and the experiences I encounter today.

The work takes the form of an installation that is an exact reconstruction of the rooms within the refugee centre. Within a twelve-by-two metre space, the visitor enters the shared living environment of a family of four. Photography, sound, drawings and personal memories come together to evoke a life that unfolds within these walls.

The project asks how children navigate spaces that are temporary and not entirely their own, while still creating room for play, connection and belonging. The Dutch term Gelukzoekers, often used derogatorily to describe refugees and asylum seekers, literally translates as “fortune seekers.” I reclaim the word through another meaning of geluk: happiness. These children become seekers of happiness, finding moments of play, imagination, and childhood within a life shaped by uncertainty.