Artist: Marco Bakker

Hahnemühle Baryta print, size 30x40cm, edition of 10 (+ 1 A.P.).

Also available at size 60x80cm, edition of 3 (+ 1 A.P.).

Marco Bakker (1959) attended the MTS for Photography in The Hague from 1977 till 1982, where he was taught by the photographers Frederick Linck and Ed van Wijk, among others. From 1982 onwards working as an independent photographer, mainly as a portrait photographer for magazines and publishers.

RUNNING BEFORE THE WIND 

In the year 2000 Marco photographed the Australian artist Vali Myers. ‘She was a well-known figure and a muse for many artists,’ says Marco. Shortly after he photographed her, Vali passed away (2003). After her death, Marco got the idea to make a book about her.However, it was a difficult project and a first attempt to make a book about Vali “and Friends” failed. Not because it wasn’t possible, but because Vali’s Italian lover with whom Marco had contact assured him that Vali didn’t care what others thought of her. The idea of ​​making a bookwith her friends, and then asking them what they thought of her, didn’t make sense to her,’ Marco looks back. Still, we managed to release a book in 2020, but with a completely different approach. He says: “Vali lived in Italy, together with her lover Gianni and lots of pets. Gianni often described himself as “the sailors wife” because he stayed at home while Vali took to the world with her art. He then received letters from her, in which nature and her experiences often took center stage. Gianni has kept them one by one and we have bundled a selection into a unique art book’.

ODE TO WINNIE 

The book, which was given the title Running before the Wind, was not over for Marco yet. Several times he had contact with Gianni in Italy and that is how he heard that almost all pets had died. Except for one, an ancient turtle named Winnie. Then Winnie a year later also passed away, Gianni realized that the only living memento of Vali had died with that. He dedicated five poems to the turtle. ‘More or less jokingly, I suggested that I would also like to make a book about it,’ says Marco. “But that idea was picked up and has become much bigger than initially thought.” The project is a textbook example of how things sometimes get rolling: Marco shared one of the poems on Instagram and then Jodi Phillis, a Australian songwriter, praising it. “I asked if she could turn it into a song and less than two hours later I received a demo!” The music gave the project a third dimension, the photographer saw the project getting bigger and bigger and got stuck in finding a good shape. “We could have made a book with a digital download, but it didn’t feel right. I thought it should be more analogue and that’s how it became a booklet with a single on vinyl,’ says Marco proudly. “Vali Myers is a cult figure and I sell the books all over the world, but by far most of them in her native country, Australia.”

Marco Bakker is affiliated with photo agency Lumenphoto.