“National histories are built on personal stories.” - Armando

My Story, Shared History is a project, organized by DutchCulture, Indisch Herinneringscentrum, Komunitas Salihara and the Netherlands’ Embassy in Jakarta, as part of Literature and Ideas Festival (LIFEs, Jakarta), Indonesia Now: Jakarta edition (Amsterdam) and Indië Next (Den Haag).

The participating artists of the project “My story, shared history”, explore the relationships between The Netherlands and Indonesia through the theme ‘personal stories, national histories’.

Felix S. Nesi is a writer, publicist and runs Fanu Books: an independent bookshop in Kupang in West-Timor, Indonesia. His novel manuscript, Orang-Orang Oetimu (People of Oetimu) won Jakarta Arts Council’s Biannual Competition for Novel Manuscript in 2018 and was published with the same title in 2019. His goal is to shed more light on the history and people’s stories of Timor. Armando Ello is a photographer, filmmaker and influencer within the Indo-Dutch community in the Netherlands. Armando successfully crowdfunded his own photography book Twijfelindo’s - Indos who doubt. Now he is taking this project to a next level, by portraying Indos around the world and exploring Indo diversity.


Commissioned by DutchCulture
Video: Armando Ello
Interview: Ardjuna Candotti (Indisch Herinneringscentrum)