Rob

The Corona virus sure pulled a number on mankind and the world. If anyone would have mentioned a mere year ago that this horrendous virus would go through the world, forcing people to shut themselves up, to close society and economy, to cancel life as we had known it until then, I would have declared them absolutely insane.

But there you have it, that's exactly what happened, and what continues to happen. It pains me to no end to witness the suffering and pain in the world, especially when the (in)activity of certain governments only aggravates the pandemic. It especially pains me to see the utter horror taking place in the country I had made my second home, my new homeland, the USA.

On a personal level the pandemic also had effects. My plan to walk from my original hometown Schagen to Santiago de Compostella fell through as more and more countries were sealed off. I was basically trapped in Holland. But that did allow me to be with my mother and try and support her in the hectics of the pandemic. So in hindsight I am actually happy that things happened the way they did -even if I would have given an arm and a leg to prevent the pandemic all together.

At first I did an awefull lot of reading, which I actually loved. But over time the creative juices started to act up. I considered getting myself brushes, paint and canvases, but decided against that because it is so messy. Instead I decided to go back to my digital imagery and to play with that once again.

After creating separate, independent images I decided to go back to the series I made for Ontmoetingen, specifically the series I made on Rob. I did have so much fun making the original series and wanted to create new versions of the story of the Passion of Christ. For me the religious element is irrelevant, I am much more interested in the bigger concepts like Betrayal, Suffering, Injustice, Sensuality and what have you.

So I made new images. Some are quite close to the original images, which tells me I really like those originals. Others are completely different, and it would be interesting to see if there's a specific favorite. Whichever way things go, I hope you enjoy series 2.