Dat jij er bent
His world is magnetic, it pulls and feels safe. There within, things can take on other forms: minuscule becomes magnanimous, and what is considered immense is scaled to minor. In his world everything is rooted, unconditioned and unconditional. He holds no judgements, no desires for more, he is not burdened by the compulsion of efficiency. In his world, sadness and joy can spill through into a single moment. And his existence is unquestioned, it just is.
I observe his world, I merge within his world. In reality and in imagination. And the camera observes too. From close and afar.
Photography Caroline Kist
Edit Nicole Segers, Karianne Bueno, Caroline Kist
Graphic Design PutGootink
Drawings Reinoud Alofs
Translation Rosie Heinrich
Digital Imaging StudioLucBrefeld
Lithography Zwaan Lenoir, Marco Kokkelkoren
Printing Zwaan Lenoir
Binding Voetelink
ISBN 978-90-9038034-6
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It’s that you’re here
Dat jij er bent
March 2024
We all have our private universes, our spaces away from the noises and demands of the outside world. Our retreats and safe places,
Outwardly we smile and compromise, do what is required of us to fit in and keep others happy, and most of the time it comes naturally and requires little or no effort whatsoever
But sometimes.
Sometimes, we smile through gritted teeth, choke out a laugh when behind our eyes we are someplace else.
Sometimes our legs kick against the current of conformity, arms flailing wildly, striving to strike out in a direction that offers a personal clarity and solace.
Only sometimes.
These are our choices and our charades, these are the things that allow us to fit in and adapt, to exist and succeed within worlds where we would otherwise ultimately be suffocated and swallowed, enveloped by well meaning but ill informed intentions.
This is the price of admission to the lives we choose and aspire to.
It seems casual deception and artifice are as integral to our survival as fight or flight.
We do what we do to fit in.
But what if that filter was removed, if the smallest of tweaks to our genetic makeup rendered all those aspects of stratagem and subterfuge redundant, to be replaced by emotional purity.
“My brother is a beacon.
Reinoud has Down's syndrome. When he was five years old, I arrived in his life: a world shaped differently, in which the wisdom of the body has not been lost and the spirit is not constricted by reason.”
In Caroline Kist’s intimate and muted study of her brother, we are introduced to such a person and allowed the merest glimpse of the spaces they share.
Physical portraits and details from the world surrounding Reinoud speak of a calm,
contemplative and rested personality.
There are no outbursts of rage, no tantrums hinted at although surely they exist… yin and yang.
The reality of no filter.
Maybe this is not the time or the place. “It’s That You’re Here” is the gentle dialogue that moves between siblings and a signal that all is well with the world.
Light and shadow, Reinoud’s drawings.
Printed glassine overlays convey a transparency of mood and a hint of complexity.
Elements and images that bind and communicate down the line.
The subject, the artist, the audience.
“In his world everything is rooted, unconditioned and unconditional. He holds no judgements, no desires for more, he is not burdened by the compulsion of efficiency. In his world, sadness and joy can spill through into a single moment. And his existence is unquestioned, it just is.”
Of course Kist is his sister, his flesh and blood but if she understands Reinoud it is because he allows it. Surely it is his willingness to communicate in his own way, to offer a transparency which is as variable and focused as any lens.
By turns, crystal and sharp as a pin or as opaque and clouded as a cataract.
Inevitably behind those eyes are worlds and universes as private and infinite as any of ours.
February 2024
As his mind wanders these images grow, faintly glowing from a far off point of light
They fuse then quietly dissipate like vibrations skipping through the air
Painting a picture that only he can see, from a place hidden to us
Yet, with time spent and an understanding forged, flickers of that luminous painting start to show
A subtle brilliance that radiates and takes flight
–
Outstretched fingers that trace lines with care as if the paper carried feeling and its surface should not be disturbed
They resemble the course of a winding river, a beguiling language of geometry, an undulating landscape, empty vessels waiting to be filled or just something dreamt and transcribed from memory
–
Shadows fall in corners and quiet spaces, softly creeping, dividing, slowly engulfing
Those same shadows pool around fingers skirting the edges and seeping into palm lines, like ravines filling with water
His face is spliced, half in dark and half in light, eyes closed, at rest, at peace, all is stilled for now
-
His world runs parallel to ours converging at points and branching off at others
He finds softness and calm in objects and in small instances that we may miss
Echoes and repetition carry significance, burdens are put aside and the minutiae and monumental are treated as equal
He sees beyond our brittle judgements and self fulfilments
He offers nothing more than himself and that is enough
February 2024
The feel of it, the binding, the smell, the front edge, glimpses of a life seen as if around corners. Communicated sensitively. So many good decisions. So good. I look forward to sharing it with my students too as an example of perceived uncomplicated presentation that sits so well because of its sensibility to material gesture. So good.
Justina Nekrašaitė of The Book Photographer
January 2024
Upon holding the book, I immediately sensed the depth of emotion the artist poured in this publication. The book stands out as being very poetic while maintaining remarkable solidity. Even when curtains decorate the cover, it feels as though they are lifed throughout the pages. The publication manages to capture vulnerability in a way that doesn’t evoke pity, but rather inspires a profound sense of connection.
The book emanates immense strength, and my desire was to emphasize with it, capture and showcase that strength in the best possible way.