The works on this page are all part of different projects and exhibitions, but they were created using the same method and were often made with or derived from the same source material, namely the photo archives of my great-grandparents. The overarching title I use, which is also the name of a publication I made, is ‘Extras’. 

Photography seems to serve well as a pure way to represent reality. It shows us that, which is visible to all of us, the uppermost, most accessible layer of reality. Tourist photography follows in the first place more a process of confirmation rather than of discovery. The tourist gaze might be seen as insignificant or even banal, but because these old photographs were taken in an unconstrained, ingenuous and sincere way, they are very suitable as material for new images. The photographic archives of my family exist mainly out of holiday pictures. Through the years, my family has photographed many (mountainous) landscapes in different countries, at different times and with different techniques. Through montage, by cutting and sawing out elements of photographs and placing them in a new context, I have created my own stretches of land, my own (non-existent) distances (Boundless Stretches of Land). In many pictures taken in villages or cities, strangers have been photographed unintended. These ‘extras’, are unaware of being in a picture and they are absorbed in thought or in action. I have cut them out of their original context and placed them as sawn out photographic sculptures in a new environment, where they have turned into main characters.

The different projects found on this page are:

FIG 1. Extras, eight women, one man and a cardboard box (2007) 

Part of the site-specific exhibition Upstaging Nature at Sydenham hill Woods, London, UK. Documentation of the exhibition. Sawn out photographs were placed in the woods. Made with photographs and 35mm slides from my family archives. Inkjet prints, forex, wood, resin.

FIG 2. Tussen door Stop (2008)

Curated by Loes Diephuis & John Prop, Galerie Inkijk, Metro Waterlooplein, Amsterdam, NL. Made with photographs and 35mm slides from my family archives. C-prints, forex, polystyrene, cardboard, metal wire, tape.

FIG 3. Ascension (2010)

Part of the exhibition Lichtvoetige Vervreemding curated by Suus Scheller, RC de Ruimte, IJmuiden, NL. Made with photographs and 35mm slides from my family archives. Cotton wool, metal wire, polystyrene, c-prints.

FIG 4. Fürckablick (2010)

Installation view at Art Amsterdam with Soledad Senlle Gallery, NL. Inkjet and c prints on forex and polystyrene. Made with photographs and 35mm slides from my family archives. Photography Marianne Ottemann.

FIG 5. ‘Sinds 1964’ (2011)

Part of the exhibition Recollected, Het Glazen huis, Amsterdam, NL. Made with photographs of the Stadsarchief Amsterdam. Vinyl photo-stickers, with matte coating.

FIG 6. Gemist - Victoria Cinema (2011)

Part of the exhibition in public space Kunst aan de Schinkel, KadS, Soledad Senlle Art Foundation, Amsterdam NL. Made with photographs of the Stadsarchief Amsterdam and the personal archive of a resident of nursing and care home Schinkelhaven. Photographic sculptures, steel, plywood, concrete and vinyl photo stickers. Dimensions: 190 x 223 cm and 250 x 450 cm. Photography Gert Jan van Rooij