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6/6/2008

Gina Kranendonk

Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam

In 2006 and 2007, Gina Kranendonk traversed the Dutch railway network photographing the adjacent gardens with the gardeners that tend them. They represent a unique and characteristically Dutch combination of tradition and nature. Unfortunately, privatisation may lead to the disappearance of these gardens and the loss of this cultural phenomenon. In this photo series Kranendonk has attempted to record this aspect of Dutch history before it vanishes completely. The project consists of a number of portraits of people of different nationalities who grow their own food on these small plots of land.

For decades, the land that lines the railway tracks was made available to employees of Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch railway company. This was enshrined in their employment agreement as a form of social compensation until 1995. That was when NS was privatised and the arrangement came to an end. One of the independent companies created as part of the overhaul that accompanied the privatisation was ProRail. ProRail found itself with around 7,000 hectares of land, and the supervision of thousands of railway allotments throughout the country.

As she travelled along the tracks, Kranendonk became fascinated with these gardens, scattered amid the woods and meadows of the Dutch landscape.

In her work, Kranendonk focuses on ways in which people cultivate nature. She visited various allotments and met gardeners from every corner of the globe. Kranendonk made hundreds of portraits of these intriguing people and the improvised sheds and greenhouses in which they grow their vegetables and flowers.

The power of the project lies above all in the number of photos, revealing the enormous variety of gardens and gardeners. To show them to their best advantage they are presented in this exhibition in slide shows on digital screens: this unique form of display presents the photos Kranendonk made for the project with all the respect they deserve.

Gina Kranendonk is a photographer and horticultural researcher. She has exhibited photos in the Netherlands, at the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, Kunsthal Rotterdam and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, as well as abroad.

Foam is supported by Stichting DOEN and the VandenEnde Foundation.

FOAM Photography Museum
Keizersgracht 609 - Amsterdam
Open daily 10.00-18.00, Thurs/Fri 10.00-21.00.
Tickets: euro 7

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