Everyday moments in life can raise the biggest questions. For Miranda Gashi, it’s the camera that helps her capture those moments. She taught herself to document images in order to better understand and explore them. This is also what she did in her photo series Opa: Fruits of Labour, in which she tells the story of her grandfather—who finally came home after years of hard work.
In the exhibition Homecoming, a photo series of Miranda’s grandfather is on display, showing him in his home. In the images, we see an older man, calm and quiet, surrounded by fruit trees and nature in Kosovo. “My grandfather never smiles in photos. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but that silence has its own voice.” The photos may seem simple, but a deep meaning lies beneath them. The series tells the story of a man who returns home after a lifetime of sacrifice.
Miranda’s grandfather gave up his home in Kosovo for Germany. “He worked in Germany for thirty years to support his family. He grew up in Kosovo, where the foundation of his identity was formed, but had to let go of part of himself to build a new life. Now that he’s retired, he lives in Kosovo again. For my grandfather, Kosovo was always the place he would return to, even after all those years in Germany.”
This led Miranda to ask: Can you truly reap the fruits of your labor when you’ve spent most of your life somewhere else?
She explores this question through her photo series, but admits it’s one that’s difficult to answer. Her grandfather sacrificed his own life to create a better future for his family—including Miranda herself. By postponing his own desires until retirement, he only returned to his homeland later in life. And now that he is finally able to enjoy it, it’s not the way he had once imagined. The woman with whom he was supposed to share the fruits he planted—the one who stood by his side—passed away just as he was able to leave Germany and return to Kosovo for good.
This painful story brings Miranda’s question into even sharper focus. “Is home the place where you live and grew up, or is it just a feeling? I think it’s a feeling, but one that’s not always easy to find. I was born here, but my roots are in Kosovo. So is my home the place my grandfather worked so hard for, or is it here in the Netherlands, where I grew up? These are questions I ask myself when I don’t feel mentally at home in the Netherlands and miss the warmth of my people. Those are the moments I long for Kosovo. But when I’m there, I sometimes feel trapped—and then I miss the Netherlands.”
According to Miranda, these feelings are a direct result of the path her grandfather walked. A path she calls the classic immigrant story—but one that, in her words, is “far from a fairytale.” And it’s that story she tells through the images of her grandfather: his longing for home, his decades of labor, and the quiet weight of sacrifice. Through these images, she also hopes to evoke recognition in other bicultural individuals whose grandparents share a similar story—one that continues to affect generations after them.
“With this photo series, I want people to reflect on what it really means to feel at home. It’s not just about the place we live or where we come from, but also about the sacrifices that were made before us. Sacrifices that grandparents may have made to create a home for their families, yet never truly experienced that home themselves. Like my grandfather, who put his life on hold to give us a home—and now, finally, gets to return to his. But without his other half.”
Opa: Fruits Of Labour is featured in Homecoming, an exhibition curated by Alien Mag at the Van Abbemuseum, on view from 28 June to 7 December 2025.
