Octopus #1 Photograph - Limited Edition of 4

1947, Netherlands Antilles. After finishing my studies in political and social sciences, aquiring a Phd, and a few years teaching at university I chose to pursue a career as freelance fotographer/ jourrnalist, specialising in social documentary photography in and of developing countries (see f.i. ). I have made radio programs, and also done consultancy work, lecturing, given photography courses, and even worked as a travel guide. As a counterbalance I do autonomous photography. Nearly all my fine art work falls under my body- and mindscapes project. Taking the female nude as starting point I try to research what is photographically possible, with relatively simple means. This project has yielded everything from aesthetic, pure and simple pictures, to deeply traumatic psychological expressions, from the comical to the abstract, to landscapes, kosmic and under-water pictures My aim, with my autonomous art, is to inspire the viewers to decide for themselves what they see. It's their associations and feelings regarding my art that are important. The viewer should not, in my opinion, be a passive consumer, but take responsibility for deciding meaning and impact. The less a viewer knows about the work, the more the viewer will have to rely on his or her own feelings, associations, imagination. I would want the viewer to be an active and conscious participant, instead of a passive consumer. As is to be expected with such a protracted project (over 40 years now) I have followed many side-paths, some of which have led to interesting and creative results. I have experimented with more complex approaches with images over images, also in combination with slide projection (some of the results can be seen here). On the whole my preference lies with a more simple, spontaneous and intuitive approach.