ABOUT

Arjen Zwart

Is an independed photographer (The Netherlands), specialized in slow documentary photography .

Arjen started photography in 1986. He is attracted by the possibilities the camera offers to tell visual stories. He has made reportages and social documentaries in India, South East Asia, the Netherlands and Turkey.

However, such reports rarely go deep. The photographer remained an outsider and spectator.
The need grew to be closer to the subject.
In 2001 he came into contact with a Roma family in Istanbul. It inspired him to follow the lives of the family over a period of more than 15 years. A book titled ’No One Dies At a Gypsy Wedding’ is planned to be published in 2021.

Closer to home, Arjen’s work is more personal. He finds his subjects in the vicinity of his hometown Egmond aan Zee.
Memories play a major role in this. Using old and new photo material he creates a world that only exists in his head, an “inner refuge” or a longing for Arcadia.

Arjen is co-founder of Dog Food, a photography magazine that mainly combines archival material with a touch of cynicism.
In Greek philosophy, the dog was a symbol of the cynics.