BIOGRAPHY:
Nederlandse biografie

 

Yvonne born and raised in the city of Utrecht, is very interested in different cultures of the world and this has led her to documentary photography with the human being as the central subject. Portrait is another speciality. Recently she is combining photography with other media like calligraphy.

From 1990 she travelled to Latin America because of her interest in Indian communities. She made a travelbook about Guatemala and a serie of ‘Indian Portraits’ in black and white which showed proud people in spite of their low social position in society.

photo © Marijke Volkers

Her first big exposition was called ‘Maya’s, Indians of Guatemala’ which was exhibited in the ‘Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde’ in Leiden en the ‘Museon’ in  Den Haag. In Guatemala she met the poet Isabel Garma with whom she made the book ‘La Poesía del Niño Caminante’ (poetry and photography together).

In the middle of the nineties South America became a travel goal which resulted in ‘Hatportraits’ from Bolivia and Peru. Another travelbook about Bolivia was made by her.
The theme of ‘death’ got her attention and with her former partner, the painter Gerrit Hardenbol she made the exhibition ‘The Image of Death’.
A reportage about a religious feast in an Indian village in Bolivia resulted in ‘Mojitania, Feast in the honor of the holy Ignatius’ which could be seen during the Holland Festival of Old Music in Utrecht.

World music has always been another subject for Yvonne’s photography. She followed some series on stage in Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht which resulted in photo’s of Indian, Pakistani and Latin American artists. Later on Flamenco in the Netherlands and in Spain became one of her main subjects. Her first big exhibition had the title ‘The magic of Duende’ which also travelled to Belgium.
In the same year (2000) Yvonne won the first and an extra prize during the II Salon Internacional de Fotografía Flamenca in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain). Since that year she regularly visited flamencofestivals in Spain such as the Festival del Cante de las Minas in La Unión (Murcia).
A series about the Gitano family Maya, which she followed in the Netherlands and Spain, resulted in the exhibition ‘Los Mayas, Gitanos de Granada’.

Because she is interested in the different movements in the flamenco dance she made some ‘Passionate Triptiques’ (three photo’s with following movements). ‘The movement can better be seen on a moving peace of cloth than on static paper such as a photo’. So she made a lifesize photo on a banner which could move in the air as a dancer does. The first Dutch Flamenco Biennal (2006) allowed her to make two red banners with a photo from a dancer on it.
At the end of 2006 the book ‘La Historia de la Fotografía Flamenca’ written and composed by Carlos Arbelos was published in Granada (Spain) with a chapter dedicated to Yvonne’s life and work accompanied by five photographs in black and white as a crown on 12 and a half years of flamencophotography.

As a kind of result of contacts (partners) she entered the Middle East. A first trip to Kurdistan of Turkey followed by a desert trip on a camel in the Sinaï (Egypt). Later on Yvonne traveled to the kingcities of Morocco and she made a long intensive trip to Iran which resulted in the serie ‘People of Iran’ showed during the ‘Iranian Filmfestival’ (2006) in Utrecht last year. In May of 2007 she collaborated  with the Kurdish cineast Ako Sirini in a project in Suleymania in Kurdistan (Irak) which shall result in a documentary about deaf people. In 2008 Jordan was visited.

During the summer (2007) a trip to Guatemala to update the travelbook and a trip to Cuba were made and ended in Mexico City in order to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum: La Casa Azul. Yvonne wrote two extensive articles about Frida for artmagazines in the nineties en she performed about Frida a few years ago.  A new project about this amazing artist will start next year.

Yvonne joined the artist initiative ‘inspIran’ where seven artists from Iran and the Netherlands let themselves be inspired by the rich culture of Persia/Iran. An exhibition started in the Kunstkerk in Amsterdam en will be travelling all around the country. In 2009 it will be seen in Warmond, Alphen a/d Rijn and Utrecht.

In the Netherlands intercultural relations and performances have her interest.
In April/May 2008 she participated with nine photographers in the project ‘&10xID’ with the subject: ‘Identity and Diversity’ with a series of double portraits from the ‘Maatjesproject (ROCMN)’, which was exhibited in April in the ACF in Amsterdam.

In 2008 and 2009 she visits Morocco in order to make a travelbook ( Wereldwijzer Marokko) which will be published in 2010.

In 2009 she became a member of the Artist Society Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam.

Yvonne likes to combine photos and text because together they can give a strong impression about the subject. Her goal is to intensify the image of the human being in his surroundings.

 

EXHIBITIONS :