The Dutch photographer is exhibiting his works at the Couvent des Minimes on population movements in conflict zones. “En route” can be discovered from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. until September 15.
You won the Visa d’Or in 2001, can we say that Perpignan is a city that suits you?
This is the third time I’ve been to Perpignan, each time for Visa. This city is extraordinary! From one street to another, everything is clean and then everything becomes… Let’s say it’s another world! But I really enjoy being here.
Your photographs often deal with particularly heavy themes…
That’s true, but there are also photographs of more positive little stories. I have travelled a lot in my life, I have captured images in South Africa during Apartheid, in Israel-Palestine, in Afghanistan, all around the Mediterranean in seventeen countries to study the issue of migration, population movements and conflict zones. But not only that, I am also interested in people themselves and in these precious moments captured in images.
We can see that your technique has evolved over the course of your life.
My first profession was a graphic designer. I was able to adapt over time. Since the black and white of my first project which lasted fifteen years, I change equipment for each new project. The transition to color, 35 millimeters… An evolution that seems to me more adapted to follow through with my ideas.
Do you have a message to convey through these images? If so, what is it?
I think a photographer should be open to everything that happens. Now, I am not an activist or a militant, I do not want to go in a particular direction. There are several angles, several possible interpretations. I let everyone see what they want. I need a certain openness, I prefer to offer something global in the reading.
You are a great traveler before the eternal, how many countries have you visited?
Well, I have no idea! Eighty? Maybe a hundred? I have traveled to most of the countries around the Mediterranean, most of the conflict zones… But I don’t only show sad or negative things. It is important for me to also show the hope that remains. I seek to provoke reflection more than emotion.
“En route”, the name of your exhibition, suggests movement. While a cliché, on the contrary, suggests immobility, isn’t that paradoxical?
These are still moments of a world in perpetual motion. We are all in motion in some way. I hope so for you anyway. I try to photograph the moment of much more global phenomena. Similarly, in Dutch, the name of the exhibition means more “on the way”. Which suggests an evolution or a transition to other stages.
Precisely, what will your future projects be?
I don’t really know, you know I’m going to be 81! I fought on three big exhibitions with “Go no Go” which dealt with migrations, then “Blue so blue” around the Mediterranean and finally “En route”. 100,000 of my photos are archived at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, I have a lot of work but I always remain open to the future.
