A soft cover cahier
15,5 x 23 cm, 32 pages
self published in edition of 200 copies
Design : Esther Noyons
Printing : Rob Stolk, Amsterdam
 
Sofie Knijff's series “BEING there” was created during her artist in residency in Sri Lanka. She has worked there intensively for the past 4 years and has come into close contact with the local population and their way of life. She started her work in Sri Lanka in 2016 for the development of my series “Tales” for which she researched fairy tales in different cultures and asked the children in Sri Lanka to portray their dream characters. It was through this collaboration that she came up with the idea not only to photograph the children from the front. The decoration (which the children provided themselves for the photography) was often so detailed; beautiful dresses and hair treatment, that it became clear to her that every detail and attitude of the person told a story. The focus shifted to clothing and structure - on form and alliteration within images. From this manifested itself a new step in her work - the series Being there, photographing the environment, landscape and objects with the same intensity and concentration as her portraits. Environment, landscape and object are in contact and contrast with the portrait and the character that is still present.