Insomnia

Photography: Mischa Keijser

Text: Mischa Keijser, David Boelee (gedicht)

Design: Steffen Maas

2008

Book of the month January 2023

On the cover of the book is the title 'Insomnia' in black letters on a dark blue background. Below that is the name of the photographer on a black background. Only the letter O in Insomnia is yellow, like a bright moon. It resembles a landscape after sunset, before the night turns everything black.

The book is about The Netherlands and about love, it says in the front of the book. It contains photographs of landscapes without people, but where the human presence can be felt, through cultivation of the land or through construction. The foreword contains a remark that did not bother us then (in 2008), but we do now: “… times change: sea levels rise and ever recurring animal diseases emphasize we cannot play god.”

The landscape photos alternate with photos of 'love': some uncomfortable nude photos from the private atmosphere, which easily give you a feeling of voyeurism.

Seriousness and humor alternate, as in David Boelee's poem, in which he describes the distance between man and nature. The poem concludes with:

(…)

The farmer plowed on, through his past

of wheat rhubarb rye and flax

no child is left that knows of frost and sprouts

that values the smell of freshly mown grass

its pleasures synthetic while fields wither

nobody to see this

when the burning sun

shortens the skirts outside

Mischa Keijser will be our guest at Fotokafeine on February 2, 2023.

Insomnia is a self-published book and is in the library of Pennings Foundation.