Aboriginals in Australia
In the Northern Territory in Australia I made portraits of aboriginals. Their situation is worse than people from a third world country. Most people are jobless, and alcohol addicted. They are parias in their own country. The future lies in the hand of the young generation.
African Village
I visited at the end of 2011 the small village New Ayoma, in the Volta district, in Ghana. The village income comes mainly form the cacao production. As the state buyers keep the prize low and the production is not high, the village remains poor. But I did not focus on poverty. I looked at the slow pace of life, the intimacy of the people and the beauty of a small community. These communities tend to disappear with the vast migration to big cities.
Bos en Lommer
The area of Amsterdam called Bos en Lommer was one of the first to have a big number of immigrants. To show the polulation I photographed people of different backgrunds in their homes.
Bosnian Gypsies
In the nineties Bosnian Gypies flied for the Balkan war and stayed for months in the harbour area of Amsterdam, but finally they were expelled, back to the war area. I made portraits of the families in their caravans. Their expensive cars could not be photographed.
Chipo, Bolivia
Bolivia, San Jose de Chipo. High in the Andes mountains, canton Camacho, live Aymara Indians in great poverty. Their village has no electricity and only few have running water. Their crop, corn, patatoes, and some groceries, is just enough to eat from. Their is no crop trade. Due to lack of rain harvest has even diminished more. In order to earn money, the farmers have to work several months in the more fertile Yungas.
Coloured Identity
This is a project about international adoption in Holland. I photographed the adoptees in their adult age. Some have struggled with their past finding their roots. All have found a way to create unique and creative sense of identity. Together with the studio portraits I made long interviews with each of them.
Global Street Child
The street child phenomenon is a growing worldwide problem. Street children live under dire circumstances and they represent one of our most serious global challenges, because they are the symptoms of the global inequality that is increasing with economic globalism. No country anywhere in the world today is without the presence of street children, but there is no real public awareness worldwide for this escalating phenomenon.
Remarkable People
For the magazine 'Markant' I have made portraits during six years of mentally or physically disabled people. I photographed them in their own power and pride. A book has been published, called "Markante Mensen".
Motsoaledi
In 1994 right after the abolishion of apartheid, poor immigrants from rural areas squatted a piece of land near Soweto, called Motsoaledi. It was meant to serve as a temporary place for people who were looking for jobs in Johannesburg. They built their shacks from would, iron and stone. Now the same squatters of that period, still live in the same houses, without running water or electricity.
Nomads In Mongolia
Most people, about two thirds, in Mongolia live in the capital Ulaan Baatar. The nomads, the original Mongolian people, tend to leave the immense wide country, mostly due to the dzud, the severe winters that causes the death of their animals. In the city they put up their gers (yurts) and create big outskirts of only tents. It is very hard for them to find a regular job. Their children however mostly go to the university in order to live a decent urban life.
Stadsgezichten/ Faces of Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a mix of people with own ideas and opinions. The inhabitants live together with many different cultures in openness, freedom and tolerance. In my series Stadsgezichten (Views/Faces of the City) I want to show the inhabitants of Amsterdam as a coloured puzzle of the urban culture. At the same time the hidden theme is the place of the individual against the mass, the person versus the crowd.
The Wild Coast
I photographed the people of Surinam, a former Dutch colony in South America. Hereby I focused on people of different ethnic groups, their identity and social background. The Dutch could hardly land at the coast because of the moores and swamps, and called it The Wild Coast. It is a metaphor for the hardships people undergo in this poor country.