Collage
When you have a sticker and decide to place it on a metal door, how do you choose where to stick it? Naturally, you first look at the open spaces—areas where you’re not covering other stickers. But do you also consider color and composition? Or do you slap it on quickly and thoughtlessly, because you […]
Who is afraid of Red, Yellow and Black
I saw this stunning composition in an unexpected place, right in the heart of Amsterdam. I was visiting a friend, an artist who was temporarily living in a canal house through a special city program. The composition is wild, like raging flames that seem to use the posters beneath it as fuel. The lady in […]
Secretly danced
I found her at the NDSM site in Amsterdam, almost hidden, on a block of concrete. It looks as if she’s dancing while taming a rebellious lock of hair. Sometimes you catch that fleeting moment, when you see someone attractive making a graceful move. You’d want to dance with her, but the moment is already […]
Punk
She glances over her shoulder, in a pose made famous by Johannes Vermeer in his painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. But she’s of a different caliber. Her hair is red, she’s wearing a black leather jacket with a raven on it, and she looks a bit disdainful. It reminds me of Punk, a youth […]
Feminism
I love graffiti that speaks to the issues of our time. This Iranian girl is holding the Iranian flag. The text in French, “On en a marre du sexisme,” means “we’re fed up with sexism.” It’s fitting that it’s in French, the language of revolution since the French Revolution. This, of course, refers to the […]
Baroque
The street is wild, untamed, and sometimes dangerous. Luckily, this little girl is protected by a sturdy baroque frame that not only surrounds her but shields her as well. She can peacefully drift away with her eyes closed, lost in her own pink cloud. “All that is valuable is defenseless,” wrote Lucebert. I understand what […]
In the wild
She also hangs in the graffiti museum ‘Straat’ located on the same grounds. So, I should probably know what this represents and who created it, but I actually photographed her for a different reason. I want to show that graffiti needs to be captured on a wall, in its context. That’s when it truly becomes […]
Be kind
He was an incredibly popular mayor, and he suddenly passed away from cancer. Almost up until the very end, he remained dedicated to the city he loved so much. Dying in the line of duty, they call it. Eberhard van der Laan was beloved, but sometimes also feared. He could be tough when something didn’t […]
In Tinder we trust
Tinder, the search engine for love—what do we really think of it? In this photo, the message is clear: “In Tinder we trust”… but also… “are lost.” What is the man with the protest sign trying to say? Is he commenting that everything, even something as beautiful and intimate as love, is now for sale […]
Icon
Andy Warhol, depicted as an icon from the Greek Orthodox Church. The icons painted in this tradition are considered sacred, imbued with the power of the holy figure, and must not be altered in form. Warhol, too, is an icon, but of Pop Art—a movement that was far from advocating eternal value, instead aligning with […]