Art & archive
Photographs made with strangers, and photographs found in an archive. These projects grew through encounters, collecting and selection, and took the form of albums, installations and exhibitions.
Constructions of Happiness
I approached strangers in familiar scenes of family happiness and briefly took the woman’s place. She then photographed her family with me in it.
A wedding in Las Vegas, an afternoon in Prospect Park, a visit to the Grand Canyon: together the photographs suggest a shared life. Each picture was made with people I had just met.
Constructions of Happiness: The American Years was presented with Sarah Tosques at Flux Factory, New York, in 2010. At De Kring in Amsterdam in 2011, visitors could dine and pose with a life-size photograph of me.
The photographic series ↗
Sporen / Traces
Team Uitvaarten, the municipal funeral team in Amsterdam, photographs the homes of people who have died alone. The pictures help the team record and sort what has been left behind.
I encountered this archive while researching Poule des Doods and made a selection of its photographs. Sporen was shown at Museum Tot Zover from 7 November 2012 to 24 February 2013, as part of Dichters van Dienst, the exhibition by Bianca Sistermans and Hester van Hasselt.
Archive photographs: Team Uitvaarten, Municipality of Amsterdam. Research and selection: Astrid Bussink.
Museum Tot Zover ↗
