People interest me; their surroundings, too.
I have always been fascinated by cultural diversity and the resilience of people to adapt when faced with life-changing situations, be it in the Netherlands or abroad.
After finishing my M.A. in Cultural Anthropology, I took up photography as a way to express what I was observing. The meaning of a photograph can be hidden in small things: a gesture, a look, an object, the surroundings… or perhaps the absence thereof. Places or spaces, with or without human beings… elements like these can tell stories, though not everything can be read from the surface. How then, can you make visible that which is not always seen?
To further deepen my knowledge of images, of what and how they communicate, I enrolled in the M.A. Film and Photographic Studies program (part of Media Studies) at Leiden University and in 2012 wrote my M.A.thesis on the imagery of illness. In 2014-2015, I participated in a VII Photo Masterclass on visual story telling in Milan, Italy.
In the summer of 2016, I was ‘Artist in Residence’ at the AADK in Blanca, Spain. A month of hard work; thinking about imagery, rethinking the way I was creating an image, reading, exploring, getting to know people, photographing and driving around the region of Murcia, Spain. A month that inspired me and where I started up my project ’ Floating on Dreams’ which I continued in September 2017, while I was an Artist in Residence at Pinea-Linea de Costa in Rota, Spain.
In March 2020, due to Covid 19, the world went into lockdown. Both the slowing down of time and being in relative isolation was motive to reflect on time passed and time yet to come. I decided to go back to my roots and explore the ‘unique’ image in ‘I invite you to come closer’.
Next to my own independent projects, I work as a documentary and portrait photographer for several clients. And last, but certainly not least, I am a lecturer at the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam where I teach and coach students.
® All images Aleid Denier van der Gon
I have always been fascinated by cultural diversity and the resilience of people to adapt when faced with life-changing situations, be it in the Netherlands or abroad.
After finishing my M.A. in Cultural Anthropology, I took up photography as a way to express what I was observing. The meaning of a photograph can be hidden in small things: a gesture, a look, an object, the surroundings… or perhaps the absence thereof. Places or spaces, with or without human beings… elements like these can tell stories, though not everything can be read from the surface. How then, can you make visible that which is not always seen?
To further deepen my knowledge of images, of what and how they communicate, I enrolled in the M.A. Film and Photographic Studies program (part of Media Studies) at Leiden University and in 2012 wrote my M.A.thesis on the imagery of illness. In 2014-2015, I participated in a VII Photo Masterclass on visual story telling in Milan, Italy.
In the summer of 2016, I was ‘Artist in Residence’ at the AADK in Blanca, Spain. A month of hard work; thinking about imagery, rethinking the way I was creating an image, reading, exploring, getting to know people, photographing and driving around the region of Murcia, Spain. A month that inspired me and where I started up my project ’ Floating on Dreams’ which I continued in September 2017, while I was an Artist in Residence at Pinea-Linea de Costa in Rota, Spain.
In March 2020, due to Covid 19, the world went into lockdown. Both the slowing down of time and being in relative isolation was motive to reflect on time passed and time yet to come. I decided to go back to my roots and explore the ‘unique’ image in ‘I invite you to come closer’.
Next to my own independent projects, I work as a documentary and portrait photographer for several clients. And last, but certainly not least, I am a lecturer at the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam where I teach and coach students.
® All images Aleid Denier van der Gon