Ordinary People will be my first retrospective book consisting of around 160 large photographs from the various series I have worked on over the past 20 years. My categorical working methodology is the starting point in the image selection, ranging from previously published images to unknown work. Fish processors from Iceland and Den Helder find each other, and civil servants from Russia and France match brotherly next to each other.

General information including sample pages of the trade edition of Ordinary People can be found here

The book is more than photographs. In dialogue with writer Merel Bem, we have worked on backgrounds in words and images that are all related to my practice. It reflects for example on the long run up towards the creation of one photograph (e.g. dancing Masha) or the magic of group portraits. My writing colleague Arnold van Bruggen is interviewed about our collaboration, old travel diaries are in the spotlight, ethical issues like how to deal with a person being portrayed come up, as well as the pros and cons of presenting work in alternative places. And more.

Ever since my first book - Communism & Cowgirls from 2004 - I have been funding part of the production costs of my books by offering a numbered edition in pre-sales and, as a thank-you, mentioning buyers’ names in the colophon of the book. The special project of Ordinary People deserves a special approach. In collaboration with Kummer and Herrman, we come up with a special dust jacket for this numbered edition, which is folded around the trade edition. The dust jacket contextualizes the tragic story around the photograph (visually and in text) that decorates the cover of the trade edition.

The special edition of Ordinary People will appear in a run of 150 numbered and signed copies and is only available from this website.

All copies include a signed fine art print (dimensions of the book) of a widely used photograph: The Lithuanian butchers.

Numbered edition 1 - 150
Including Fine Art Print (signed)
Design: Kummer & Herrman
Hardcover and dust jacket: 320 pp
Dimensions: 255 x 200 x 30 mm
Bilingual: Nederlands / English
Price: 150 euro excl. shipping