The History of the Forgotten
Rommert Boonstra (b. Groningen, 1942) - photographer, poet, visual artist - is one of the founders of modern staged photography in The Netherlands. In the year of his 65th birthday Noorderlicht is honoring him with a retrospective and a survey of his most recent work, in which he literally sets off in new directions.
Boonstra made his name with his photographic variant of the peepshow. His photos are intimate, frozen stage plays with surprising props as their actors and decor. Broken glass, superannuated PCBs and mouldy cheese, among other things, populate this playful and colorful dreamworld, which invites the eye to wander endlessly.In his recent work Boonstra once again places unexpected elements in his visible reality, but now outside the studio. This time his wanderings through European landscapes in a state of astonishment, from the Drentse Aa to Saville in Spain, are the raw material for theatrical images of moments, meditations and encounters – the internalization of the landscape.
Opening Friday 23 November 5:00 p.m., by Kees van der Meiden, director of TwentseWelle in Enschede and former director of the Nature Museum in Groningen, with Mr. Boonstra present.