Artist: Teake Zuidema

Hahnumühle FineArt Baryta print, 89x51cm, edition of 15 (+ 1 A.P.).

Teake Zuidema (Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, 1953). During his study in cultural anthropology, Zuidema specialized at Leiden University in the use of photography and film in anthropological fieldwork and research. After making ethnographic films in Mexico and the Netherlands, he began to work as a documentary and travel photographer for newspapers, magazines and photo agencies in Europe and the USA. He’s been living in the USA since 1994, first in Pittsburgh, PA and currently in Savannah, GA. After moving to Georgia, he became fascinated with the coastal areas and has dedicated himself to landscape photography.

Artist Statement

“As a photographer, I’ve always been wrapping reality – be it people or places – into my own esthetics and sensibilities to tell a story. As a Dutchmen, born below sea level, I’m fascinated by all what happens in coastal areas; the interplay between sea, wind, beach, trees, dunes and animals, and the things people design to try and control it all. When I came to the Georgia coast, I was struck by the struggle of all the plants and trees that live at the edge of where life is possible being under constant attack by salt water, hurricanes, beach erosion, human activity, and climate change. As I started to photograph these coastal areas, the images began to divert more and more from reality and morph into a very personal coast where death, destruction, rebirth, struggle, beauty, and light point to a new and imagined reality. In fact, I now see my coastal panoramas, stitched together from multiple photos, as some sort of stage for a fantasy or science-fiction story that yet needs to be told.”