Commissioned by the Dutch national art and history museum, Rijksmuseum, Carel Van Hees, as embedded photographer for 'Document Nederland', spent one year following all types of education in search of the human aspect in Rotterdam’s schools. Young people on the brink of adulthood, full of expectation, fearlessness and vitality.
Carel van Hees: 'Education is development and growth. The transfer of knowledge and understanding, but also the teaching of skills. Visualising a freely abstract episode. It is in the language and in the mind of teacher and student. I tried to translate that process into images. I immersed myself in the subject as an urban explorer and hunter: observe, strike and capture.'
After attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Carel van Hees (Rotterdam, 1954) worked for several years as a photojournalist. He later gained fame with books and exhibitions about, for example, saxophonist Piet le Blanc, films such as Don’t Catch my Face and 2KM2- Het Heden van de stad (2KM2 - Today’s City) and the exhibition Eversteijn - Boxer & Barber, in Rotterdam’s Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in 2011. In his book Play in 2001 he sketched a vivid picture of youth at the end of the 20th century. Van Hees returned to this subject for Document Nederland in 2015 and visited various Rotterdam educational institutions, from primary schools to universities.
Since 1975, the Rijksmuseum has been organising the annual Document Nederland exhibition for which a Dutch photographer is asked to focus on a current social issue. Previous photographers have included Hans Aarsman (1984), Dana Lixenberg (2011), Henk Wildschut (2013) and Hans van der Meer (2015).
Document Nederland Junior is the accompanying photo competition for young people in secondary education. The theme is My life at school. Ten participants are selected from the 100 entries (see Scholieren.com). They get a masterclass from Carel van Hees, and can exhibit their work in the Rijksmuseum’s Teekenschool (school of drawing). One of them is elected the winner.
Document Nederland and Document Nederland Junior are organised in cooperation with Dutch weekly newspaper, Vrij Nederland, and supported by the Mondriaan Fund.
