LOSS

The title The Sun Doesn’t Rise; The Earth Turns Around refers to the project in which Wiosna van Bon explores how people, like herself, have experienced the loss of a parent to suicide. Through photography, she reveals the layered nature of memories and how they shift as time passes. Proximity and distance, presence and absence remain in constant dialogue. She combines portraits of the people she interviewed with images that evoke associative connections to their stories.

After the death of his mother, Rick van der Klooster returned to the mountains where the family used to spend their holidays hiking together. In Between the Mountain and the River, the landscape becomes a vessel for memory and grief: still, vast, and inevitably subject to change. The book published in 2025 about this project is sold out.

Pippilotta Yerna presents her monumental triptych Pietà, in which the intense, loving relationship with her great-aunt takes centre stage. From this personal bond, she explores how care, closeness, and farewell are inseparably intertwined. The work does not depict an abrupt loss, but a long process of connection and gradual letting go. Through a restrained, multi-part image, Yerna unites love and parting, allowing vulnerability and strength to coexist.

Martin & Inge Riebeek present several short video portraits centred on the loss of a family member or loved one. The portraits are part of their ongoing series The Essential, in which people share how, after a life-changing experience, they have found a way to live with trauma. Each portrait begins with a wide shot of someone in their own environment, who then walks up close to the camera and tells his or her personal story directly, in a single take.

About the exhibitors

Wiosna van Bon (1992) studied at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. She uses poetic imagery to address social issues and taboos in an associative, open-ended way. Her work has drawn attention to, among others, people experiencing homelessness and the relatives of incarcerated individuals (Family Stranger, the book of the same name was published in 2020 and is sold out). wiosnavanbon.com

Rick van der Klooster (1995) studied at St. Joost School of Art and Design in Breda. Through poetic images, he gives form to feelings of disillusionment about the future, as seen in The Day the Birds Stopped Singing (the book was published in 2021) and Perfect Blue. rickvanderklooster.com

Pippilotta Yerna (1994) studied at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. She creates photographic projects with her family, her great-aunt (Please, pierce your bones into mine) and her mother (She is the canary in the coal mine of a dying empire). The absurdist scenes give shape to her fear of losing a loved one. pippilottayerna.com

Martin Riebeek (1957) and Inge Riebeek (1964) both studied at AKV| St. Joost. They have worked together as an artistic duo since 2001. Over the past 15 years, they have collected stories from people around the world for their video project The Essential: in personal portraits, individuals share what matters most to them—what is essential in their lives. The ongoing project now comprises 600 video portraits from 25 countries. The Essential invites viewers to empathy, understanding, and connection. (The book The Essential was published in 2020)  www.riebeek.net  www.the-essential.nl