Ad van Denderen Knihy

25 years after the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa, this book interweaves multiple histories and perspectives, across generations. In the early 1990s Dutch photographer Ad van Denderen travelled to Welkom, a small mining town in South-Africa, to document the last days of apartheid. 25 years later his critically acclaimed photo book „Welkom in Suid-Afrika“ was discovered by Lebohang Tlali (then a young art student in Cape Town), who grew up in Welkom’s neighbouring township Thabong. The book served as an eye opener: for the first time Tlali saw how the white community lived during apartheid. In 2016 Tlali decided to reach out to Van Denderen, marking the start of a great collaboration. „Welcom Today “combines new and historic photographs by Van Denderen, Tlali, and their students as well as images from family albums, newspaper archives, interviews by journalist Margalith Kleijwegt, and essays. In a multi-vocal, non-hierarchical way, the project opens uptomultiple histories and perspectives, across generations and backgrounds.

According to the United Nations' Plan Bleu, over the next 20 years approximately 205 million second homes will be built to accommodate 350 million tourists annually along the coasts of Turkey and Spain alone. This influx of tourism and the return of "westernized" immigrants fuels religious and political radicalization and serves as a fulcrum for major economic changes and ecological pressures. So Blue, So Blue was initiated in 2001 when Dutch photographer Ad Van Denderen photographed a group of 100 illegal immigrants landing rubber boats in southern Spain. Soaked to the skin, they ran off in the morning light. Hours later, tourists appeared on the same beach, ready to enjoy another sunny day. Since then, Van Denderen has photographed in every country that borders the Mediterranean Sea. So Blue, So Blue is his attempt to understand the immense economic, political, socio-religious and ecological changes taking place around the open space that Europe, Asia and Africa have contested and shared for centuries.

Ad van Denderen hat über viele Jahre die großen Migrationsbewegungen in Richtung Europa beobachtet und dokumentiert.