This elective course is an introduction to the medium of photography which centers on research into the expression and possibilities of photography. In this course, students discover and control the power, complexity and working mechanisms of photography. Students learn how to use this knowledge to communicate their own ideas to the viewer through experimentation and research into different photography genres and techniques.
The first lessons students worked on short assignments that were more focused on photographic techniques, for their final assignment students had 4 weeks to dive deeper into the subject of their interest.
Each student approaches photography from a different perspective and from their own background being from different departments and studies. It was a delight to see the variety of topics discussed and how well researched their final projects are. Always taking into account the responsibility they have as a photographer towards the people they collaborate with and I was also impressed with how smart, and constructive their feedback is to each others projects.
Some of the topics students worked on:
- Home away from home; the Bulgarian diaspora in The Hague
- Queer identity development; liberation from restriction
- When passion becomes ritual and ritual becomes passion; Poetics and performativity: Persian female poetry and the social act
- Noise as roommate; a research into how students are living close to a construction site
Next to using photography students made use of video, sound, wrote poetry and stories, collaborated (remotely) with friends and family and made a playlist to complement their works.
- Nadine Stijns, tutor Photography
Aren Chan
One of the assignments was to take three words or a term of a news article and associate with it.
The terms I choose were “Human Projection, growth and loneliness”; this series is made from the combination of it. I want to show the contradiction of freedom and being trapped. With some friends we tried to find out what it means to them.
out of body experiment
Emotions you do not want to show in public
Asa (Yi Han) Yen
Rositsa Davidova
HomeAwayFromHome
Gwen, a representative of the Bulgarian diaspora in the Hague.
“Diasporas” are present in all multinational societies and the Dutch is not an exception. With the increase of migration in Europe, the flow of human capital has significantly changed the map of the continent. The series introduces one representative, but a bunch of more are present from all walks of life.
Anatole Leclercq
Flânerie, 2008
Flânerie, 2008 is a series of eight photographs aiming at taking the spectator on a journey in the city of Den Haag. The artist gathered views dating back to 2008 from online images on Google’s Streetview, thereby showing the evolution of the city. Photosensitive paper was then placed directly on the computer screen to take imprints of the past. The purpose of this project is to make tangible the process of gentrification that has been ongoing for several years in the Netherlands. Through the apparently innocent act of the flânerie (‘aimlessly walking’ in French), the viewer is confronted to urban elements that have now been eliminated. This work is dedicated to the populations that slowly but surely are forced out of city-centres and see their surroundings appropriated.
Marta Gallego Garcia
Life in abandoned, 2021, photography in a magazine
This series is based on an antikraak student house in Delft. In 1917, a new campus was needed for the Faculty of Chemistry, the so-called ‘red chemistry building’ was from a school building to be a light bulb factory for Philips and later on a base for Germans during WW2. In 2008 part of the building ends in a massive fire and then it was converted into a temporary space to accommodate students. Little they did know, it was meant to be a temporary solution, the students made it their home. This series shows both the home and abandoned feeling.
Charlie Dröge
Miina Heikkinen
Rituals between us and Earth
This series explored the interconnections between ecosystem services and human routines of self-care. It aims to show how the rituals of Earth – seen as the fifth skin of humans– connect to the ways in which it cares for us and we care for ourselves. The four natural processes and their ‘rituals’ were those of tidal cycles, dunes, coastal vegetation, and tree canopy cover. The human self-care rituals were sleeping, brushing one’s hair, stretching, and taking care of one another when hurt. There is a hope to shine the light on our alikeness to the phenomena and processes of the natural world, and highlight how caring for these ecosystem services means also to care for ourselves.
Sofie Damen
The day in a life of a 14 year old
Diet culture rituals
This series is about diet culture. Diet culture is a system of beliefs that worships thinness, equates it to health, promotes weight loss, demonized certain ways of eating and oppresses people who don’t match up with this picture.
A lot of people are confronted with this culture from a very young age, through social media for example. I chose to make photos with my 14 year old sister, who is also affected by the diet culture. I think it’s important to talk about this and visualize how diet culture influences our daily life.
Stefanie Naydenov
Mindpalace, 2021, Photograph Collage
A mind palace is a world that you build in your imagination. Imagine a familiar environment and visualise the information you want to remember in it. In this series, I present the mind palaces of eight people who told me about their wishes, desires, and imaginations. I translated those hopes into an atmosphere and tried to merge them with their room. Even dreaming about something can make you happy and give your room a new dimension.
Matteo Fabris
“Deo Sono, Populum Voco” (2021) is a project on Christus Triumfatorkerk, in The Hague, exploring the role of a protestant religious community in society. The pictures aim to connect the past with the present state of the church and its community, to then stimulate a debate on future trajectories. The project revolves around questions like “What does modern church mean?”, “What is the contact point between a religious community and the broader population?” and “How do you participate in groups that do not share your identity?”.
Thanks to all the members of Christus Triumfatokerk, especially Eliz, Mike and Jaap.
Evalotte Elisabeth Annemarie Krause & Irene Midttun
Is poetry a ritual in itself? Is touch a ritual in itself?
This collaborative series aims to speak for itself and asks you to listen to yourself. It poses the question of what rituals are to you, how poetry might become a ritual, and how something as ordinary as touch is lacking in our particular time. What is normal in a world that slowly seems to return to normality? Let us reflect on our own emotions, feeling true connection with others and their inner worlds through poetry, to aspire the normality, you would like to return to or create anew.
Laura van Alfen
به خواهرم, To my sister(s)
POETICS AND PERFORMATIVITY: PERSIAN FEMALE POETRY AND THE SOCIAL ACT.
Integrating the two options given for the final assignment, my last project aims to be an amalgamation between a personal passion -namely, Persian women poetry of the 2Oth century (more specifically: between the Constitutional Revolution of 19O5 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979) and touches upon the important role of poetry in Iran, functioning as a ritual facet of daily life.
For over a thousand years, the Persian poetic tradition flourished uninterruptedly. During and after the turn of the 2Oth century, Iran was experiencing a turbulent period, which saw the Constitutional Revolution, as well as the rise to power of Reza Shah and his attempts to implement reform. Throughout this time, poets began to turn their attention towards the country’s ordinary people, rather than concentrate on its elites. As a result, new topics such as gender relations, nationalism and didactic themes began to become a focus of poetry. Persian poetry forms an identity marker of Iranian in Iran and far beyond, and functions as an integral part of Iranian culture and society. It has a far-reaching impact on (socio)politics, sense of community and nation and is being assumed one of the best ways of communications feelings, thoughts and opinions.
The question arose how to visualize 2Oth century women poetry through a 21st century woman’s eye. The purpose of this assignment is to generate a visualisation of Forough Farrokhzad’s poem ‘To My Sister,’ by envisioning the ritual stance of her subject-manner’s bearing.
Be Khaaharam – yek, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - do, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam – se, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam – chahâr, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - panj, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - shesh, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - haft, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - hasht, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - noh, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - da, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - yâzdah, digital photo, 2021
Be Khaaharam - davâzdah, digital photo, 2021
Amba Klapwijk
Blijf je over of verdwijn in het schuim / Do you remain or hide in the foam is an exploration on sea foam. Sea foam is formed when blossoming Phaeocystis algae fall apart in springtime, foamed by the wind and the waves. The foam reminds me of the cycle of life and death, of coming and going, of transience and brittleness. It is strong and fragile at the same time. During the creation process the foam became my own metaphor for decision making.
