Toxic and yet familiar
Mark himself. Nevertheless, Despite all the reports and data about toxic substances, Wijk aan Zee feels familiar. As a child he already arrived on the beach. He likes to blow out on the Pier, and during the Coronapandemie he worked at Strandtent Timboektu, when his photography stopped for a while. “I got to know people there, the village itself, and came to the conclusion that my image – fed by the media – is not correct,” he says. “There is no continuous conflict and people are not all sour. There are no two camps. It is much more nuanced.”
That revelation no longer let him go. In 2023, Rammers decided to make work on that unpretended story. “Wijk aan Zee is a hospitable and quiet village, with a close -knit community located in a beautiful area,” he describes. “It is easy to capture it in a dark jacket, but I wanted to leave the soft side of the village. People are really aware of what is going on, but also continue with their lives. Have their friends, house, home and garden. That image is missing in that discussion.”
Put things in perspective
In his photo series he visited ‘Ome Frits’ from the Aardenburg campsite who received him with open arms and shared his entire life story. He meets a Syrian family who fled from Syria to Ukraine, and from there back to the Netherlands. “What is an ‘unsafe area’ for us is to live for them the safest they have ever been. That puts things in perspective.”
He spoke to residents who prefer to do a glass of wine than endlessly ‘over the factory dicks’ and former employees who really understand that something has to change, but also experienced Tata as a very nice employer.
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