In response to nostalgic sentiments such as 'the good old days' and that Dutch culture is under threat - which right-wing populist parties like to abuse - I created the collage series De schoonheid van ons land. The title of this series is taken from a series of books from the fifties and sixties for which Cas Oorthuys took the photos. I have interwoven two parts of this series, Architectuur van deze eeuw (which shows the progress, hope and new ideas in architecture, with designs of Berlage, Oud, Rietveld and post war architecture) and Klederdrachten (which highlights the disappearing regional traditions of uniform community spirit clothing, from small villages such as Volendam, Marken and Staphorst).

When making this collage series, I paid attention to the correct perspective and shadow areas, so that the collages can also be seen as new photos. Photos of a white Netherlands, which again conforms to the village church morality of control and “this is how we do it here” and “just act normal.”

Do we really want to go back to that?