honorable mention
Mo Verlaan netherlands
title
Undercurrent
Photographing was my way of coping, finding images that could visualize my deepest fears. Creating Self-Portraits and cleared my head. Being in nature gave me strength. Especially the landscape in the far northern part of The Netherlands bordering the Wadden Sea (Unesco World Heritage), where the land is harsh and empty and misty tidal movements determine the rhythm of life. That place felt like a translation of my inner space. It became a search for a new point of view, the subtle shifting of perspectives.
Additionally, I could draw another parallel: we undermine the resources of our bodies and land, we neglect and exhaust it, we ignore all the signs until it breaks, burns, storms, shakes, submerges. Only then do we intervene. Only then we start to think of the consequences and are able to really change.
Working completely analogue, with its slow and pure character, pointed the way. Not having the option of reviewing my work until I developed it brought me in the now. The tranquil process of printing in the darkroom became soothing and brought peace.
After graduating from the Rietveld Art Academy, Mo Verlaan (1963) started out in experimental theatre, creating sets on location as well as performing. Her love for travelling and cooking made Mo found the company De Drie Gezusters catering to (inter)national film crews from a converted truck. A growing passion for photography made her enter the Photo Academy. She graduated in 2016 with a joint exhibition and her first book Resonance was launched, in which she explored the impermanence of light, the brief and fleeting beauty of landscapes, architecture and people.
EDUCATION
2019. Masterclass by Jim Casper of LensCulture
2018 – ongoing Postgraduate Masterclasses by Machiel Botman, Analogue Photography,NL
2017 – 2018 Atelier Smedsby, One Year Photography Masterclass, Paris|France
2016 Masterclass by Anders Petersen, Rome|Italy
2011 – 2016 Photo Academy, Fine Art, Amsterdam|NL
1985 – 1990 Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy, Theatre Design & Audiovisuel, Amsterdam|NL
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entry description
This series started end of October 2018 as a reaction to the fact that my wife had been diagnosed with cancer. In a single moment our lives were changed, our minds in a muddle, invaded by a thick layer of fog. Our horizon kept shifting and nearly seemed to have collapsed. The unreal uncertainty of losing your loved one felt like walking on very thin ice.Photographing was my way of coping, finding images that could visualize my deepest fears. Creating Self-Portraits and cleared my head. Being in nature gave me strength. Especially the landscape in the far northern part of The Netherlands bordering the Wadden Sea (Unesco World Heritage), where the land is harsh and empty and misty tidal movements determine the rhythm of life. That place felt like a translation of my inner space. It became a search for a new point of view, the subtle shifting of perspectives.
Additionally, I could draw another parallel: we undermine the resources of our bodies and land, we neglect and exhaust it, we ignore all the signs until it breaks, burns, storms, shakes, submerges. Only then do we intervene. Only then we start to think of the consequences and are able to really change.
Working completely analogue, with its slow and pure character, pointed the way. Not having the option of reviewing my work until I developed it brought me in the now. The tranquil process of printing in the darkroom became soothing and brought peace.
about the photographer
After graduating from the Rietveld Art Academy, Mo Verlaan (1963) started out in experimental theatre, creating sets on location as well as performing. Her love for travelling and cooking made Mo found the company De Drie Gezusters catering to (inter)national film crews from a converted truck. A growing passion for photography made her enter the Photo Academy. She graduated in 2016 with a joint exhibition and her first book Resonance was launched, in which she explored the impermanence of light, the brief and fleeting beauty of landscapes, architecture and people.
EDUCATION
2019. Masterclass by Jim Casper of LensCulture
2018 – ongoing Postgraduate Masterclasses by Machiel Botman, Analogue Photography,NL
2017 – 2018 Atelier Smedsby, One Year Photography Masterclass, Paris|France
2016 Masterclass by Anders Petersen, Rome|Italy
2011 – 2016 Photo Academy, Fine Art, Amsterdam|NL
1985 – 1990 Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy, Theatre Design & Audiovisuel, Amsterdam|NL
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