"Untitled" - PAUL DEN HOLLANDER

PAUL DEN HOLLANDER

1982 VINTAGE PHOTO

FROM THE FAMOUS SERIE "ARTIS ZOO"

SIGNED AND NUMBERED 1/50

Nature has always played an important part in my life. From my childhood on, it has always been and still is my teacher.

As a child I would marvel at all the life in the small garden of my parents’ house. I collected images of animals and went on nature trips with my parents and my brothers. Later, in the years of secondary education, my attention turned more specifically to birds. It was then that I bought my first camera, with the intention to photograph plants and animals, especially birds.

After a few years, however, I learned that photography also enabled me to express my inner world, a life-changing experience that started a long journey.

I could see two possible directions to choose from after I finished my secondary education: forestry or art. After some deliberation I chose art. But being unable to let go of working the soil in the cycle of seasons I soon decided to rent two allotments. This combination of photography and gardening has been part of my life ever since.

I’m very grateful to my art school teachers who, in addition to the regular curriculum, have allowed and stimulated me to find my own personal direction. It has been a period of experiments, research and many short travels in the Netherlands and abroad: meeting people, being on the move in the broadest possible sense. A journey to find the answers to the essential questions of life, to find meaning.

For the practical part of my final year I cycled through Belgium, France, England, Wales and Ireland. A journey filled with encounters and important experience, with nature as my companion. I slept beneath the stars, in haystacks (they still existed in those days) and sometimes in the homes of hospitable people. I came back home with a wealth of images, some of them photographic.

SIZE: 27 x 27 cm

MAPPINGSIZE: 40 x 50 cm  

PRINTING TECHNIQUE: SILVER GELATINE BARYTH

YEAR: 1982

EDITION: 1/50