05 november 2021, Flor Linckens
Bianca Sistermans: “There is an absence or an introspection that I find beautiful”
Until 14 November, you can see the exhibition ‘Alledaagse ergernissen en het Baby zeepaardje’ (‘Everyday annoyances and the Baby seahorse’) in Cokkie Snoei in Rotterdam, with work by Bianca Sistermans. In the exhibition text, a selection of the Dutch photographer's work is described as 'extremely funny, in an anarchist way', and there is certainly a kernel of truth in this.
For example, her series ‘Alledaagse ergernissen’ (‘Everyday annoyances’) shows small frustrations that are so recognisable that they’re bound to put a smile on your face, enhanced by their quiet poetic power because they are portrayed so aesthetically and isolated. Think of a slowly rising damp stain in a curtain. Or a tiled carpet floor in which one tile is a slightly different colour. Or a loose wire or a terminal block that dangles uselessly from the ceiling, instead of a lamp. Sistermans invites us to accept, or better yet: to embrace these imperfections within our living environment. The objects also say something about our time, in which every defective or imperfect object is immediately replaced, in which apps optimise our lives to absurd levels. Sistermans also feels very connected to poets and writers. She collaborated, for instance, with the poets Eva Gerlach and Sasja Janssen for the book ‘Alledaagse ergernissen’ (‘Everyday annoyances’). The added poetry offers wings to her photography.
Bianca Sistermans, Streekgordijn, 2019, Cokkie Snoei
Other series that Sistermans makes are characterised by sadder subjects. In the series ‘Lang zal ze leven! Met mijn moeder verdween het keuvelen’ (‘Long Shall She Live! The chatter with my mother disappeared’), Sistermans portrayed people who have recently lost their mother. For the book ‘Hier besta ik’ (‘Here I exist’) she focused on the so-called "Poule of Death", a group of poets who write poems about people who die in complete loneliness: from the homeless to lonely seniors. Behind every person there is a story that invites them to write a poem, which is then read at an equally lonely funeral. For 'Here I exist', Bianca Sistermans and writer Hester van Hasselt spoke with these poets about subjects including poetry, loneliness and death.
Sistermans has also been making excellent portraits of writers and poets since 2012, some of which can be seen in the exhibition in Cokkie Snoei. For this project, she once again collaborated with Hester van Hasselt, with whom she made the book ‘Een mogelijk begin van veel: 29 dichters aan het werk’ (‘A possible beginning of many things: 29 poets at work'). Because Sistermans records the poets in their home and work environments, these portraits are characterised by a certain humanity, intimacy and recognisability.
Bianca Sistermans, K. Schippers, 2016, Cokkie Snoei
Sistermans: “A writer often writes themselves from the page, but is still - invisibly - present in the work. A writer's portrait pushes the person forward from behind the work. I won’t say: now we're going to take pictures, sit still for a moment. We're just talking, and sometimes I'll look through the viewfinder and press a button. I'm looking for a certain look, a kind of concentration. An absence or introspection that I find beautiful. Intimacy. I don't give any directions either.”
In addition to the daily annoyances and the poet's portraits, the exhibition in Cokkie Snoei also includes a project that Sistermans started with the Dutch poet K. Schippers. The aim was to make an edition of ten handwritten versions of his poem 'het Baby zeepaardje’ (‘The Baby Seahorse’) from 2020, accompanied by some of Sistermans' photos from the series 'Everyday annoyances'. Unfortunately, only three copies were complete when he passed away earlier this year. That is why photocopies were made of his handwritten texts.
