World Trip

A Private Collection of New Work

World Trip

After 5 years of roaming the same streets, it is time for something new. Throughout August and September, I will be exploring parts of Asia and North America to produce new work - which will be exhibitioned next year.

An exciting journey, and I’d love it if you came along.

On this page, I will document the travel - inward and outward, both visual and by text.

In order to finance my travelling and create something lasting, I will also be releasing a very special print box and book in collaboration with the Kahmann Gallery, which you can find out more about below.

Learn More…

About the project

A Return to Wonder

My photography was built on new impulses, on being somewhat overwhelmed and uncomfortable with my environment. On roaming new parts of town, every night, exploring the unknown and witnessing the city from another angle.

I never thought much of travelling, as I felt there was always more depth, more layers to uncover even in the relatively small cities I resided in. Utrecht and Amsterdam became more comfortable sure, but my experience of them also deepened and I discover new textures, new rhythms even after walking the same streets hundreds of times.

Despite that, always wondered how I would respond to a whole new visual language. This was only compounded by Covid - not being able to do something has the tendency to make it so much more appealing.

After patiently waiting and saving, now seemed like the right time to discover new horizons.

My Mission and Challenges

One of the reasons travelling did not appeal much to me was because travel photography generally didn’t speak to me. Often too registrative or documentarian, it tells me too much about how a place looks and too little about how it feels.

My photography in the Netherlands was always about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary - to show things we take for granted in a way that they become magical, odd or somewhat frightening but always beautiful.

Travel photography very often falls in the trap of being seen as extraordinary simply by virtue of being something else - focusing on the ‘otherness’ of places and people, simply highlighting cultural and social differences in a way that’s interesting for viewers who are not from there.

My goal will be not to document or demonstrate cultural or social differences. I’m going in without a preset idea, no focus on any particular story of time and place. But that does not mean I am aimless.

By capturing my own experience of falling into a different place, my visual distillation of a city’s soul and how it reacts with mine, I hope to once again highlight the beauty of the invidivual perspective, and the freedom and beauty that comes from embracing loneliness.

About The Box

Along from the exhibition and this blog, I wanted to create a different kind of physical collectible. Together with the Kahmann Gallery we designed a unique opportunity for collectors - a print box that is truly yours and one of a kind.

Inside you’ll find a booklet documenting the trip and production, as well as 10 museum grade prints measuring 40x50 cm.

Uniquely, you will be able to choose which prints these are! Everyone who buys a book can go through my entire rough selection after the trip, and pick their favorites to be printed.

To keep the collection unique, the box is only released in an edition of 7 (+2 AP).

As long as the trip continues, till the end of september, it will be available for the pre-order price of 3995 euro excluding VAT.

Pre-Order

To reserve your copy, send an e-mail to me@joephijwegen.com or info@kahmanngallery.com, or fill out the form below.

Blog (coming soon)