Shelter - A Dialogue with Photographer Henk Wildschut
NYU Florence - La Pietra Dialogues
A Dialogue with Photographer Henk Wildschut
In the vicinity of the port of Calais there is an area of a few hundred square meters known as the ‘jungle’. The inhabitants of this area have travelled many miles to get there and still their journey is not over. Calais is the starting point for the last and most popular crossing. Thousands have come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria in search of a better life in England, the destination of their dreams. Not that they are welcome, as illegal immigrants are banned and excluded through a vast system of laws.
While waiting for the chance to make the long crossing, they build makeshift shelters: tent-like structures of waste materials found in the immediate vicinity of the camp. Even in the best case, it is hard to recognize the cultural character of their country of origin in these structures.
For Henk Wildschut the sight of the shelter, anywhere in Europe, became a symbol of misery. It also became the starting point for his exploration of the question: How can a photographer depict a humanitarian problem in images without clichés?
Henk Wildschut studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. His work is exhibited around the world. In addition to many self-initiated, long-term projects, Wildschut has photographed for many Dutch and International magazines. Wildschut´s work displays a contemplative and often distant view on the people and situations he photographs, which lends a balance and monumental quality to his photographs that incite the viewer to further reflect on the subject. In 2005, Wildschut started a long term project around European immigration. In 2010, this resulted in the book Shelter and the film 4.57 Minutes Back Home. In 2011, his book Shelter was awarded with the Kees Scherer prize for the best Dutch photobook of 2009-2010 and he also won the prestigious Dutch Doc 2011 Award for best documentary project. The same year Wildschut was commissioned by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to work on the topic of ‘Food’. After two year this resulted in the book Food and an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum. He then returned to his old subject immigration and refugees. In the last year he has followed the developments of the refugee camp in Calais. This work will result in a large exhibition at the photography museum Foam in April 2016 in Amsterdam entitled From Jungle to City.