This is a personal project. Over a couple of months I spend time at a long care psychiatric care home to tell the stories the people living there wanted to share. I am super thankful for the time and freedom I got to do this project. For how people trusted me with their stories, how they trusted me being there with my camera and capturing life.
I spend a lot of fun times with Aagje, she told me about her life, about the things she loves. We laughed a lot. She invited me to join her when she was going to deliver newspapers and document that.
"People often think we are weird but I want them to know we are just normal people."
Never thought I would, but I went back to working at a psychiatric facility. Not as a social worker as I used to but as a photographer.
I'm an observer and I can show you what I see.
It always struck me how much misunderstanding there is about the people I worked with or the organizations I worked for.
I find it very important to break taboos, to talk about all kind of mental illnesses or problems because I've learned a lot of people dealing with that feel lonely. Taboos and misunderstanding have a big role in that. That's why I wanted to go back, this time as a photographer. I know there are a lot of stories to tell. So here we are!
Aagje invited me to join her when she was going to deliver newspapers.
