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Annemarie Hoogwoud
I have been working as a professional landscape photographer since 2000, with an emphasis on capturing spatial planning, in other words the design of the landscape. From that background and my search for the essence of what is, I discovered the more abstract side of the landscape and started to see more and more poetry in the landscape.
I call my work visual poetry. “The longer you look, the more you will see” I often get that as feedback. In a sometimes hectic, restless and harsh world, I hope that my images inspire you to stand still, evoke an emotion and to reflect. By taking the time you will see more and look differently.
Since my return to the north of the Netherlands, I have started to wonder what home actually means to me and how that manifests itself in my photography. I found myself starting to see "home" in a different context. The abundance of water and the open and wide character of Friesland make it a place for me, a landscape in which I feel at home. At the same time, I also see 'home' in the sense of being at home with myself. When I am home with myself I live more in harmony with my environment.
In a broader context, I believe that when we are more at home with ourselves, there will be less fear and aggression in the world, and the world can live more in harmony. We currently live in hectic, troubled and uncertain times. It is precisely this time that is the source of inspiration for me to depict the theme 'home' as a counterpart to these troubled and uncertain times.
'Home' evokes all kinds of images and words in me: emotion, awakening, intuition, dreams, intimacy, life, your own voice. I take those words with me when I go out with my camera, because when I connect with the words and emotions that evoke "home", the images follow automatically. Soon I saw landscapes of the soul appear in my first images.
And with those images, I then 'paint' a landscape of the soul and I give it the colours that in my experience belong to that specific image, colours in which I feel at home.
Coming home to myself, in the landscape of my soul. That is not easy and remains a constant challenge to look for it and to step out of there into the world.
