I am a restless traveler, who keeps on leaving, but never arrives.
I have been taking pictures of interiors since 2002. In the beginning I worked in worn out, rejected buildings, later I concentrated on private homes.
Interiors tell stories about people. In public space people follow the global trends and fashions. In their homes they tend to make other choices. The private space is the only place where we are ourselves.The personal story is told inside the privacy of our home.
I never travel along a pre-fixed route. My trips are guided by intuition and by experiences along the way. Roads that attract me, people I meet and stories I hear. The doors I choose to knock on rarely hold a clue about what I may find inside.
I never visualize anything beforehand and my pictures reflect my first impressions.
The image comes alive in the existing light.
Many of my interiors give evidence of a frugal life, of inhabitants who are able to make their personalities known with only a few means. In my work I concentrate on this authenticity and dignity.
My pictures tell a story about these people, a story that reaches beyond material reality.
Everything visible in the picture was there. I never change anything. I only use the available light. I use colournegative film and print both analoge and digital. During this proces no drastic changes are made either.
The portfolio Enchanted Spaces consists of the following series:
Time Out - The Netherlands, Finland, China, 2002-2005.
These series consist of pictures of rejected spaces. The structure of these buildings may still be sound, but the inside is considered "economically worn out".
These series will be continued.
Mothersong- Russian Karelia, 2003-2004.
Taken on the border from Russia and Finland. Some of these areas were a part of Finland between 1920-1945.
For pictures from these series I received in New York the Lucie Award for the New Discovery 2004 and several other prizes.
Nest - The Netherlands, 2004.
Taken in a care home for the elderly in Amsterdam.
Unintentionally these series has turned into a history of Dutch home-decorating over the last 50 years.
The Emperor's Wardrobe- China, 2005.
My first trip to China. Taken in Beijing, around Pingyao (Shanxi) and in Zhaoxing (Guizhou).
DOMA - Japan, 2006.
Interiors from the islands Honshu, Kyushu and Tanegashima.
The Tail of the Dragon - China, 2007.
China west of the Great Wall - the provinces Qinghai and Xinjiang.
Yellow Rain - China, 2008.
Made during the Beijing Olympic Games.
The two northern provinces of China - Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia and the southern province of Yunnan. Also these areas are border regions beyond the Great Wall.
The old China - China, 2009.
The province of Fujian. The coastal region of Fujian has been part of the Chinese Empire since the Qin dynasty (221-207 BC), when it was known as Min.
On the high plateau - China, 2010.
On the Tibetan plateau in Yunnan and Sichuan province. Several of these houses are situated above 4000 m.
For the trips to China 205, 2007 and 2008 and Japan I received generous grants from the Dutch Foundation for the Visual Arts, Architecture and Visual Design. For which my thanks.