Sandrien

I created the book Sandrien together with my colleague, photographer Raimond Woude, and designer Katja van Stiphout. It reflects a period when Raimond and I documented the life aboard the ship Sandrien. The Dutch government detained Sandrien in the Amsterdam harbor to prevent it from being scrapped on the shores of India, where child labor, among other things, is prevalent. This was a very idealistic move, but it overlooked the fact that there were 35 crew members on board. We tried to capture this period of being stuck between the land and the sea.

For me personally, the experience on this ship marked the beginning of my focus on marginalized people who become trapped between the interests of different governments and their own ambitions to move forward in life.

By gradually increasing the orange hue by 1% on each page of the book, designer Katja van Stiphout sought to convey the feeling of being confined on a ship for so long. The crew almost became one with the ship. By the end of the book, the pages are nearly completely orange, making the images secondary. On page 100, the paper returns to white. The sailors are on the plane heading home.