Photographer statement: Last year, I moved to a new community located in a very remote suburb, which blends in with the surrounding rural areas, forming a unique landscape. In recent years, China has built many high-rise buildings, but due to the impact of the epidemic and economic downturn, the development of many areas has stagnated, and new houses often only serve the purpose of living, becoming "sleeping cities". Our community is the same. There are no public places, so people have nowhere to go. In the evening, everyone comes to the only riverside for a walk. People can do whatever they want here. They exercise, walk their dogs, set off fireworks, have picnics, and sometimes burn paper for the deceased (a Chinese custom). This place has become our public space. Several villages are next to our community, and it is very dark at night. The riverside looks like a stage from a distance because of the streetlights and the people are like actors in a drama. The scene looks beautiful under the streetlights. Because it is far from the city center and lacks rules, this place is full of possibilities. People's thoughts and consciousness are extremely relaxed here. Therefore, it accommodates all kinds of people and needs. It has become a sample of the interaction between urban and rural areas, people and the environment. It is like a utopia.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: In this personal documentary, I have been photographing my wife’s family of origin, who live in a provincial town in Northern Greece. Although a family therapist myself, I have often found it difficult to fully engage with the familial terrain. Not surprisingly, then, this project presented me with a great challenge but also opened up an avenue to self-reflexivity. For me, the camera served as a distance regulator and a reflexive tool; it allowed me to approach this family as a ‘participant observer’, providing me with a position from which to observe myself observing others, while simultaneously searching for a home. These pictures then intend to create a version of family life, but also speak of my desire to understand and connect with a world that is not my own, yet one that I feel in many ways deeply attached to.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: With the rise of mobile devices, the infrastructural needs of the telecommunication industry have exploded, and since the 1980s, cell towers have started to fill the planet. The scenery changed dramatically in 1992 when a cell tower in the US was transformed into an artificial pine tree for the first time. Since then, this kind of camouflage has evolved into a global phenomenon that raises fundamental questions about the relationship between humans and nature. The images from the series focus on the camouflaged communication and surveillance infrastructures that have become part of the California landscape and are photographed exclusively at night. The series depicts these artifacts of the digital age as, in Amy Clarke’s words, a “societal preference for ‘fake’ aesthetics over ‘ugly’ reality”.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: Kingdom. is a series of 6/7 analog color photographs. I started shooting my immediate surroundings during Covid lockdown and went on my first road trip holiday in my own country that first summer. Norway is a monarchy, which to me is a state of illusion. I have always felt kings and queens to be a fairytale concept, alongside wizards and dragons. And in many ways, this concept of being norwegian, of what we agree "Norway" to be, is an imaginary concept. So I have taken this to heart and attempted to photograph what my norwegianness looks like to me. Some of this is nostalgia - having grown up in a small town I tend to gravitate towards items and architecture that is reminiscent of my childhood. Some of it appeared to my camera on my travels and begged to be photographed. In sum I hope this to be a documentation of a nation that does not exist, which I hope resonates with both my fellow norwegians but equally to people everywhere that walk around with imaginary nations in their own minds.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: In-Between is a photographic collaboration between artists and identical twin brothers Anthony and Phillip Reed. The pair maintained a continual exchanging of photographs while living apart in different continents. (Anthony was based mostly out of Shanghai and Phillip, between London and New York). Most of the images represent transient, urban spaces. “Spaces that seemed to also reflect the transience experienced during this chapter of our lives.”

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: When plant scientist Teemu Teeri went out of Helsinki Railway Station in May 2015, he noticed some vivid orange petunias in a planter. He was surprised since petunias don‘t come in orange colors naturally, and he took a few stems for testing in his lab. This chance encounter was the starting point of a case which was later called the 'petunia crisis‘ and ultimately led to the destruction of all orange petunia variants worldwide. The book‚ "The Petunia Carnage" is based on the true story of the orange petunias, following the consequences of Teemu Teeri‘s discovery, when DNA tests revealed that the orange petunias were transgenic. The book goes back to the origins of the orange petunias at a controversial 1990's landmark experiment at Max Planck Institute in Cologne, followed by their mysterious "escape from the lab". Finally, it explains why the orange petunias were regarded as "illegal" after they had been bred and sold without permit for more than 25 years, leading to their worldwide mass destruction in 2017. The story of the orange petunias is more than a scientific anecdote - it is rather a parable of what can happen when scientific interest, commercial marketing logic, socio-political values, public discourse and unexpected coincidences collide. "The Petunia Carnage" narrates the chronology of the case in a tongue-in-cheek way, consisting of photos, facsimiles and artifacts, adding fictional elements to scientific facts and archive material. The photographic narrative of the book is based on the cooperation with all relevant actors of the orange petunia case. They have shared their experiences, provided image material and also granted access to their labs, where they are still permitted to breed transgenic orange petunias for scientific research. The Petunia Carnage, Jan. 2022, self-published 108 pages, 90 images, 22x28cm, hardbound, first edition of 350 copies.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: Dreaming Sunset is the story of an expectation. The waiting of the end of the eruption for the inhabitants of La Palma. Cumbre Vieja eruption lasted 88 days, the longest in a long time. Each evening the sunset paused time. People went up the hills to look at the volcano, waiting for the end of the nightmare.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: Planned under Franco, who sought to develop tourism on the coasts, the city of Benidorm, which was then only a fishing port, was entirely redesigned for leisure and vacations and became in just a few decades the first destination of mass tourism in Spain. Located on the Costa Blanca, northeast of Alicante, Benidorm enjoys a sunny climate all year round; a major advantage that attracts a predominantly North European clientele. Benidorm is a planned city conceived on a highly dense vertical model. Organized by activity zones - entertainment, shopping, food, beach - it favors proximity and the organization of services. Mostly composed of massive concrete towers - the tallest of which is 192 meters high - the city holds the world record for the number of skyscrapers per inhabitant. A verticality that is supposed to protect the ecosystem around the city. Relying solely on recreation, Benidorm has bulldozed a unique landscape of concrete, bright signs and palm trees. Even its flora has been designed and organized to make it "saleable": fake grass, palm trees ( surrounded by asphalt), rows of hedges; the illusion is perfect. One does not come to Benidorm for its cultural heritage or to explore the treasures of the Costa Blanca. One comes to lie by the pool, in the shadow of concrete giants - which are themselves adjacent to a crowded beach. In the kingdom of the "all inclusive", everything is cheap and you can find anything, except what is local. "Pubs" and "English goods" signs follow one another in the wide avenues of the city, just like the theme restaurants. The entertainment is king, the disorientation is nonexistent. These "saloons", water parks, golf courses and casinos will surely remind to anyone who keeps an eye open some city in Nevada. Tourism is standardized, the same entertainment and fast-food chains can be found here as elsewhere. It's Las Vegas by the sea and Manhattan for the skyline. Many actually call it "Beniyork". Unlike the journey that inspires openness, an awakening to oneself and to others, Benidorm offers you "tourism" in all its standardized excess: "Welcome to España ?"

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: In 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted New York City's Chinatown in a way like no other crisis has before. Due to fears of the virus and the rise of anti-Asian racism, the fragile community had seen a 50-70% loss in business, forcing a majority of stores to shut down for good, many of which had laid their foundation in the neighborhood over 5 decades ago. Chinatown, one of New York's only true ethnic neighborhoods left, is under the threat of extinction. In Where did all the Flowers go?, David Zheng turn his gaze towards a neighborhood at its brink. Overwhelmed by helplessness and anxiety, he took to the desolate streets of Chinatown, photographing the pandemic ravaged neighborhood through the 3-month lockdown period. A once vibrant and resilient immigrant community comes to an abrupt stop. Empty storefronts line the streets, a majority of which may not survive past the year. Graffiti and ripped posters adorned on decaying walls signal a cry for help. Zheng’s And although the photographs depict a deteriorating neighborhood during a pandemic, questions of survival as an immigrant in America arise. What happens next, will we be taken care of? How far did we really come, or is this the end? Challenging the ethos of the “American dream”.

SEEN Magazine

Photographer statement: In 1970, Oman had only 10 kilometres of paved roads. Nowadays a bit more… Under the leadership of the late Sultan Qaboos, this Middle Eastern country has been going through a huge modernisation over the past 50 years. Until that time, Oman was an isolated, undeveloped state, lacking in many basic facilities and infrastructure. But in a country where floors are polished and 6-lane expressways are now of the highest standard in the world, there is still so much lack of tarmac. Roads suddenly stop or start, roundabouts have only two exits and bits of scenic road are left unusable after being replaced by dual lane race circuits. And what use is a road anyway? With a 4WD one can drive anywhere, from an untouched part of the desert to a visibly multi used track through a barren landscape. And not to forget, the large castle like villas, without driveways. This fascinated me – we, Dutch people, take such details for granted. On a (gravel) bike I explored these (off) roads of Oman... The old roads, the new ones, the under-construction roads, the roads which are not there anymore, the road markings and the not-so-roads. By travelling slow, I photographed the upper layer of this country and the aesthetic of the spaces in between the destinations the roads are leading to. While I have stayed with this photo series quite on the surface, I do wonder... Where does it stop? It’s only a matter of time before the connecting space between sights will consist of busy efficient highways that allow more tourists and locals to travel as fast as possible from A to B. There’s a huge car culture as public transport is pretty much non-existent. Big SUVs are not parked near a beach, but on the beach. While Oman keeps working on their surface, I do hope during the next 50 years that they see the charm of the unpaved road and the less convenient way of life.

SEEN Magazine