Tja Ling 賈玲
FENIX Museum
Suitecase Story
This project was done for FENIX Museum in Rotterdam in december of 2021.
It is a story about a Dutch woman called Willemine. Willemine traveled from the Netherlands to China in 1898 to be with her newly wed husband Thomas, who already lived in China. Her journey took 6 weeks.
They settled in Tianjin where they have 4 children together. It soon becomes apparent that Thomas is not faithful to Willemine so in 1911 she decides to leave her husband.
Together with the children and the nanny she traveled back to the Netherlands via the Trans-Siberian Express. This act was very progressive for a woman back then.
After building a life in the Hague she became very active in the women’s rights movement. She protests for women's suffrage which became reality in 1917.