My recent Great Sweep through my studio included going through my ‘Rajasthan‘ cupboard. It was good to unfold and rearrange a collection of Indian textiles – nothing exceptionally valuable but a testimony to change as a number of hand-blocked cotton pieces are not available anymore if…
Read moreA moment of pause to pick up this journal after a month has, once again, passed too quickly. I’m listening to Benjamin Biolay’s music compilation ‘Rose Kennedy’ which sounds very French and summery and fits a Sunday afternoon of making order around me. Changing the scenery in my studio is…
Read more©britannica.com/blogs/2011/03/einsteins-physics-photos-day/ A French medical specialist recently told me at his mentor’s funeral how much he was missing him now that he had passed away. Their relationship had grown since university into solid friendship over decades and while he had taken over his teacher’s position years ago, he…
Read moreSince I began this journal three months ago, I’ve intended to write about my current book project, Living Iron. The idea was to present it in a logical order, following the development of my research and adventures until today. That time has not come yet,…
Read moreDuring many years I have organised and accompanied such tours for friends. The time it took to prepare a balanced, informative and unforgettable journey made me recently stop doing so, but it was equally fun to dream in advance about sensational places and, when travelling at last, to share…
Read moreThere is a park not far from where we live, where I walk almost every day. It surrounds an elegant country house which has now become offices without losing too much of its charm, and the variety of trees it harbours shows the vision of the 19th century landscape architect…
Read moreThese past weeks I have often wondered about what makes people great, why they are often humble, and how badly we miss trustworthy models at the moment. Several recent press articles made me draw once again the conclusion that greatness resides in a subtle combination of humility and self-confidence.
Read moreIn a BBC2 interview with Andrew Marr on 27 February (A Culture Show Special: The Art of Seeing), walking through David Hockney’s current Royal Academy exhibition in London, the artist talks about how we forget to see things, to look at things. A photograph, he says,…
Read moreThe contrast between my books appears sometimes to be confusing. There is a leading thread, however, as each one is the result of a largely visual coup de foudre. I didn’t plan to go to India, I was invited and once there, it struck me deep. I never thought I…
Read moreOn December 23 I mentioned in this weblog the moment when I set out to find a publisher for Rajasthan, and how ill prepared I had been for the attitudes in the trade. I believe it could be interesting to write a small book for authors in search of a publisher and it…
Read moreAlmost nine years after its launch, Rajasthan is still living its own life. It was by sheer chance that a friend found the book last week sitting comfortably in an armchair on the cover of a flyer from an interior decorator in Laren, the Netherlands. …
Read moreToday, while the Dutch are keeping their fingers crossed for the first chance of a Elfstedentocht after fifteen years and people have taken out their ice skates all over the Netherlands, I remember freezing but sunny days on the Zeeland beaches in search of images for my book A Resistible…
Read moreSome years ago five images from my Rajasthan pages were selected for a – now discontinued – poster called Samples and a series of postcards sold by IKEA. I took the picture one early morning in Jodhpur when the renowned dyer Tayeb…
Read moreAt the launch of Rajasthan in London in the Fall of 2003, a journalist asks me why, being Dutch, I have not made a book about Indonesia. Although the question is meant to tease me, it is fundamental and the journalist himself is surprised by its effect. What is the…
Read moreAfter the launch of Rajasthan I returned to India to finally show my friends what I had been doing. The village of Rohet in the Jodhpur region and its pleasant fort had been my base for longer periods of time. I had even become affectionately known as ‘Pollimadam’ and…
Read moreMy Indian friend Nina Subramani gave me the Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarawalla for Christmas last year. Homai Vyarawalla (9/7/1913 – 15/1/2012) was the first woman photojournalist in India, and many of the most famous pictures dating from the time…
Read moreThere are some more ‘memories’ entries to come as an introduction to an up-to-date blog, but I’m getting there. Autumn 2003: Rajasthan is festively launched in Paris, Brussels, London and the Netherlands. The kind booksellers of the Lagerfeld 7L bookshop in Paris transform its interior for one party night, aligning…
Read moreAfter more than a year of making collages for Rajasthan, I had the feeling that I was ready. I carefully wrapped my 300+ original pages in a large shoebox and went to New York and Paris in search of a publisher… To make a story short: I found a publisher in…
Read moreMy most faithful travel companion is a small Moleskine ‘reporter’ notebook which, at home, is paired with a larger one that grows within a few months to bursting point with photos, sketches and cuttings. For years I used to bind my journals myself in different materials and those are particularly…
Read moreOn a trip to Venice after finishing my university studies, I found a little manual on bookbinding. Its detailed explanations echoed a wish I already cherished at school to learn how to bind the exquisite books I had seen on display in Paris. My husband constructed a simple press and…
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