About
As a photographer/artist I have lived in remote areas in North and South America for more than 20 years where I have worked on long-term projects. These projects have been internationally exhibited, published and won prizes (including 1st prize portraits/stories World Press Photo and 1st prize portraits/fine art Sony World Photography Awards).
I studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam and Academy of Art & Design ‘s-Hertogenbosch. I have photographed for magazines, newspapers, art publications, etc. Commissions include portraits of former Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and the Royal Family, Prix de Rome, Amsterdams Stadsarchief and Fundacion Imagen de Chile, and the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. I have worked with international artists in realising projects: Carlos Amorales (Mexico), Alicia Framis (Spain) Otto Berchem (USA) Runa Islam (UK), Mark Manders (NL), etc.
Longing for silence and hungry for the vast emptiness of nature, I went to the desert more than 20 years ago in search of absolute, sublime nothingness. Instead, this turned into a photographic inventory of traces of violent human activity in the desert landscape of the Southwest. A dusty trip through a scorched land of super malls, nuclear fall out, ground zeros and hostile skies. The halo of modern times arose at the horizon as a frightening fata morgana at every turn. I encountered intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from New Mexico, descended into nuclear bomb craters, and found ‘downwinder’ communities (due to radioactive fallout from the test site) in Nevada. Then my (now ex-) wife got pregnant. Our daughter was born in a makeshift hut I made, not too safe because of the scorpions and snakes that often crawled under her crib. This cabin was in a semi-ghost town in the Great Basin Desert inhabited by a handful of heavily armed misfits; recluses, drunks, veterans, rednecks and hippies. We’ve left for the frozen wilderness of Canada, in a place without TV, electricity or internet, with bears and cougars as neighbors. My son was born there. The cold and hardships brought us to Chile where we wanted to start over in the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world. Ten years ago in that earthquake country I started to build a house for my family with my own hands without the help of machines. It has become a project that has changed me as a person and an artist.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
1985-90 Koninklijke Akademie voor Kunst & Vormgeving, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
1990-92 Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam
EXHIBITIONS/FILM FESTIVALS/PUBLICATIONS ( SELECTION )
2024 Group show, galerie Frank Taal Rotterdam
2024 Art Rotterdam, galerie Frank Taal Rotterdam
2021 ‘Pink desert’ solo galerie Frank Taal, Rotterdam 2021
2020 ‘Chronology’ solo galerie Frank Taal, Rotterdam
2020 Nominatie SOMFY, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam
2018 ‘DESIERTO’ tentoonstelling FotoMAM MAM Chiloé
2018 “’DESIERTO’ exhibicion proyecto MAC Quinta Normal, Santiago
2018 ‘BESTIA’ exhibicion proyecto Biblioteca Nicanor Parra, UDP/Cenfoto, Santiago
2017 ‘RUSH’ exhibicion proyecto GAM, Santiago
2016 ‘Shadowing’ portfolio in EXIT Magazine UK May
2016 ‘No se asegura regreso – Antartida’ – Biblioteca Nacional
2016 ‘Como construye el futuro’ Codelco
2016 ‘Cabo de Hornos’ – Biblioteca Nacional / Imagen de Chile
2015 Retratos, paisajes por Fundacion Imagen de Chile
2015 Silver Camera Award, Photomuseum The Hague, NL
2013 FIF BH International Festival Photography Belo Horizonte Brazil
2013 Sifest, Photofestival, Savigno and several other cities in Italy
2011 ‘The Altered Landscape: Photographs of a Changing Environment’ Nevada Museum Art USA
2011 ‘Playground’ Cobra Museum Amstelveen and other locations in the Netherlands
2010 World Press Photo 2010 – numerous International locations
2010 ‘A Positive View’ – with Richard Avedon, Wim Wenders, Somerset House London UK
2010 ‘Topos’ Photo Biennial – Museum of Photography Thessaloniki, Greece
2010 ‘Elders’ Dommeldal St Michielsgestel NL – outdoor exhibition
2010 RotFoDocFest – Rotterdam NL – group
2010 ‘To find emptyness in Cityscapes’ Gemak, The Hague, NL – group
2010 Gallery Caprice Horn, Berlin – group
2010 Galeri Petronas Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – group
2010 Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece – two person
2010 Art Work Space, London – group
2010 Gallery 21, Tokyo, Japan – group
2010 Aperture Gallery, New York, USA – group
2010 Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada – group
2010 Salon de Photo, Paris, France – group
2010 Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France – group
2010 Vegas Gallery London – group
2010 Frieze Art Fair, London – group
2009 ‘Transvoid’ SM’s Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch NL solo
2009 ‘Island’ CBK ‘s-Hertogenbosch NL- solo
2009 ‘Bouw in Beeld Award 2009 / Gimme Shelter’ Cobra Museum Amstelveen NL – group
2009 ‘Island’ November Boxtel, NL – solo
2009 Edge Gallery Hong Kong – group
2009 Sony World Photography Awards 2009 – 1st prize Fine Art/ Portraiture Cannes
2009 ‘Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord in Nature and Society’, Tucson Museum of Art
2008 ‘Heimat Hotel’ Breda Photo Biennial 2008 – NL
2007 Fotonoviembre 2007, Foto Biennial Tenerife, Spanje
2007 10th Foto Festival Naarden, NL – Paradise: ‘Our life in a town of ghosts’, solo
2007 Art Amsterdam ‘Our life in a town of ghosts’, Amsterdam, NL
2006 ‘Our life in a town of ghosts’, solo Gallery van Wijngaarden/Hakkens, Amsterdam
2006 ‘In Transition’, Evagoras & Kathleen Lanitis Foundation, Limassol, Cyprus
2005 ‘Bad Lands’, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno,
2005 ‘A Desert Odyssey’ Forest City Gallery, London, ON, Canada
2005 ‘Bad Lands’, Gallery van Wijngaarden/Hakkens, Amsterdam, NL
2004 ‘Beyond the Obvious’, the Arts Factory, Las Vegas, NV, USA
1998 Film festival, Auckland, New Zealand
1998 Galeria Civica D’arte Moderna e Contemporanea Torino, Italy
1993 ‘Mai de la Photo’, photo-biennial, Paris, France
1992 ‘Positions of Gaze’, exhibition, Amsterdam, NL
1992 Beurs van Berlage, exhibition, Amsterdam, NL
1992 ‘De Heelal Hoed’, de Vleeshal, Middelburg,& museum Boymans van Beuningen, NL
1992 ‘Semana de Cine Experimental’, film festival, Madrid, Spain
1992 ‘Ciudad de Huesca’, film festival, Huesca, Spain
1992 ‘Host’, Otto Berchem-projects, exhibition, Amsterdam, NL
1992 ‘Wish You Were Here’, exhibition, de Appel, Amsterdam, NL
1992 ‘Festival de Cinematographique de Gardanne’, Gardanne, France
1992 ‘Corto Imola Film festival’, Imola, Italy
1992 ‘XX Goteborg Film Festival’, Goteborg, Sweden
PUBLICATIONS
World Press Photo, 2010 / A Positive View Somerset house & Christies / ‘The Altered Landscape’ Skira Rizzoli Publications, New York 2014 / Empty Magazine, Australia / TRANSVOID – monograph Roderik Henderson by SMs / Flux Magazine UK / Adbusters Magazine / ZOOM International Portfolio, Sept/Oct ‘07 issue; / Color – Magazine, Canada; / Metropolis M magazine / etc
COMMISSIONED PHOTOGRAPHY/FILM/VIDEO 1992 – 2023 (SELECTION)
‘RE-TRACE’ – Amsterdams Stadsarchief 2023
‘Antartica’ – Biblioteca Nacional Chile
‘Como se construye el patrimonio del futuro’ – Codelco, Chile 2015
Her Majesty Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands & Royal Family – individual portraits
‘Mark Manders’, catalogue Sao Paulo Biennal – Brazil
‘Prix de Rome 1992 & 1993’, catalogue & press, NL
‘Tuin’, film Runa Islam, UK
‘Trails & Errors’, video series Owen Oppenheimer, UK
‘Walking Monument’ (first award Prix de Rome); “Gigolo” Alicia Framis, Spain
‘Are you a Strange Kid?’, video Adam Chodzko, UK
‘Count Down To Line Up’, film Otto Berchem, USA
‘Table dance”, video, Carlos Amorales, Mexico
GRANTS / AWARDS
2023 – Anna Cornelis Fonds – project ‘Sub Rosa’
2020 – Somfy Award ‘Gimme Shelter’ nominee
2020 – Mondriaan Fonds – bewezen talent
2018 – Fondart para proyecto ‘BESTIA’
2017 – Fondart para proyecto ‘DESIERTO’
2017 – Fondart para proyecto ‘RUSH’
2015 – Nominee Silver Camera – Daily life – Dutch Photo Award
2010 – 1st Prize World Press Photo – Portraits / series
2011 – Mondriaan Fund: ‘Domain’
2011 – Sem Presser Fund: ‘Sphere’
2009 / 2010 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art Design and Architecture: Stipend
2009 – Nominee Bouw in Beeld Prijs / Gimme Shelter
2009 – 1st Prize Sony World Photography Awards – Fine Arts/Portraiture
2008 – NBKS – stipend
2006 – Amsterdam Fund for the Arts: ‘Passage’
2006 – Amsterdam Fund for the Arts: ‘Funny Movie’
2004 / 2005 / 2006 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art, D. & A.
2003 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art, D. & A.: ‘Our life in a town of ghosts’
2001 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art, D. & A.: ‘A Desert Odyssey’
2000 / 2001 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art Design and Architecture: Stipend
2000 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art, D. & A.: ‘A Desert Odyssey’
1998 – The Netherlands Foundation for Art Design and Architecture: Stipend
1997 – Amsterdam Fund for the Arts: ‘New Short Films’
COLLECTIONS
Aegon / Ministery of Foreign Affairs / Amsterdam Medical Center / Kunstuitleen Utrecht; Nevada Museum of Art / Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch / Tucson Museum of Art / and many other corporate, public & private collections