News
March, 25, 2013
Lecture at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam
Willem Poelstra will give a lecture on April the 3rd at 8 PM. This evening he will talk about the story behind the project 'For Hanna, Future Stories from the Past'.
February, 27, 2013
Exhibition Nutshuis until April 28st
The exhibition 'For Hanna, Future Stories from the Past' started at the 17th of February and will run until the 28th of April in the garden at “Het Nutshuis” in The Haque.
February, 19, 2013
Radio Kunststof
Photographer Willem Poelstra was a guest at Radio Kunststof talking about 'For Hanna, Future Stories from the Past'.
February, 11, 2013
Dutch Doc Award
For Hanna, Future Stories of the Past; Selected at the longlist for Dutch Doc Award 2012, Dutch largest yearly award for documentary projects.
January, 29, 2013
Exhibition Nutshuis, The Hague
17th February will be the start of the exhibition in the garden at “Het Nutshuis” in The Haque. It will run until april 28st.The Second World War put a heavy burden on the lives of Willem Poelstra's parents. His own Jewish mother had lost many family members in death camps, whereas his father had worked voluntarily in a Berlin-based locomotive factory. Regardless of objections from their environment, they nevertheless married and lived together until the end. For this project, Poelstra (the Netherlands, 1956) drew on the impact the war had on his family, seeking to extend this to the present.
In early 2012, he traveled to Kosovo. Ever since the war of 1999, Serbian and Albanian communities live diametrically opposed to each other. As a result, Kosovo stays deeply divided and is characterized by ongoing conflicts. Poelstra documented a history that just keeps repeating itself.
The 17th of February is also Kosovo’s 5th anniversary of independence. An independence supported by the UN en most members of the EU. Serbia does not agree to those resolutions.
September, 7, 2012
Exhibition Bredaphoto Festival
For BredaPhoto, Poelstra traveled to Kosovo in early 2012. This was one year after the death of his father, who had left him a box filled with pictures and documents. The photographer thus discovered more about the past of his Jewish mother, who had lost many family members in death camps, and his father who had worked voluntarily in a Berlin-based locomotive factory during World War II. Regardless of these sharp oppositions his parents managed to bridge the divide: they married shortly after the war and stayed together for the rest of their lives.
For his project, For Hanna… Future Stories from the Past, Poelstra drew on the impact the war had on his family, seeking to extend this to the present. Ever since the war in 1999, communities in Kosovo live diametrically opposed to each other. They will nevertheless have to find a means to live together—even if this means an armed peace.
