The Never-Ending War
In ‘The Never-Ending War’ I portrayed 40 WWII veterans. Veterans of the Second World War are still classified as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, depending on the side they fought on. My research question was whether veterans, no matter which side they fought on, have more in common than they have different. I made a series of tightly framed portraits of veterans from Germany, Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States, in which only the eyes are in focus. I talked to each veteran about what they did during the war. These conversations are about survival, regret and trauma. In the project, the balance between the visual portrait and the spoken testimony is equal.
In addition to the portraits the project features photographs of World War II commemoration events.
Book publication: ‘The Never Ending War / De eindeloze oorlog’ (QV Publishers)
The Never-Ending War won a second prize in World Press Photo.
Works from this project are included in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
“Look them in the eye and one senses what they have seen.”
— Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung