het sprekend dier

2020

het sprekend dier is Monsieur Jacques Lacan's term for the human being. This collection brings together fourteen cyanotypes and fifteen poems, each accompanied by a Lacan quote, or rather, my interpretation of one. The book opens with an introductory poem addressed to Monsieur Lacan, followed by fourteen poems, the last of which also speaks to him directly.

The work exists in two forms: two hand-bound copies in which both images and texts are printed on handmade Khadi paper, entirely in cyanotype; and an edition of 100 printed booklets, printed throughout in blue.

This publication was made possible by the generous donations of many people, and by grants from the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Noord-Holland. The crowdfunding campaign can still be viewed on Voor de kunst.

If you are interested in acquiring a copy, please contact IJda Smits.

Written in Dutch.

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luchten en haiku's

2025

Skies above the rooftop house.

24 cyanotypes and 24 haiku, with a tanka as closing piece.
A haiku and a cyanotype together form a haiga, something I learned while designing the book.
The contents of this booklet therefore consist of 24 haiga.

Over the years I have taken hundreds of sky photographs from the same spot on my terrace.
Since 2024 new buildings have filled my view, and I now take the photographs from my terrace on the park side.

For this book I have made a selection from the photographs taken in 2024 and 2025.

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Rust-tijd (a time of stillness)

contemplatie — contemplation

2021

The poems in this collection were written during the first quarantine period in 2020. Due to physical problems, I spent this time in complete isolation. It brought me into a state of mind in which I could observe and put into words my surroundings and experiences in complete stillness. I practised the art of attentiveness.

The drawings are digital drawings made during the second lockdown - digital meaning: drawn by hand with a pen on the iPad.

Alongside this printed version, a handmade copy exists as an art object. In it, the drawings are printed as cyanotypes and the texts are printed on rice paper.

Written in Dutch.

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