‘Wifey4Lifey’ is part of my ongoing long-term project called Diaspora Dream. The dream is to come to the west and get married. Living the good life. I have Serbian citizenship, and Serbia is not part of the European Union. That means that after I graduated from my Bachelor's studies in the summer/autumn of 2021 my student visa stopped and I had to get another visa to stay in the Netherlands. On the 15th of September, I applied for the 'Orientation year visa'. As the start of the visa is counted from the date you apply for it, my 365 days started on the 15th of September 2021. Every day leaves me fewer and fewer days until my visa runs out, and as the name of the visa suggests this visa is made to give non-EU students an extra year to think and figure out if they want to stay in the Netherlands and then apply for another visa. For example, find work, start another study or get married. Those are the three basic options. Marriage would be the choice with the biggest perks. Therefore I organized my wedding on the 15th of June 2022 at Museumplein in Rotterdam, with the position of the groom being open, inviting individuals from the public to propose to me.


The rules and regulations about visa requirements made me wonder; am I as a non-EU female more worthy within the institution of marriage than just as a person on my own?

Premier of ‘Wifey4Lifey’ mockumentary at Dutch Design Week [22nd - 31st of October in Eindhoven, NL]


Photographs by Eden Calgie