In the beginning of 2024 I visited the islands of Statia and Saba. Statia is said to be home to 12,000 goats, along with 3,000 people. An imbalance. The goats eat the vegetation, the cliffs collapse. The economy is in jeopardy. The Dutch government is providing 19 million euros for the renovation of the cliff, but the goats have to die. Not everyone is happy with this solution.

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Neighboring island Saba is following a goat-control program, which has made the island almost goat-free after the arrival of Dutch hunters. The vegetation is returning, nature is recovering. But the fact that the Dutch are coming to tell the local hunters what to do is irritating. Do they have the right to lecture the islanders? Just like in many places where the living environment of humans and animals collide, groups of people clash with each other. Are people allowed to control animals? Are people allowed to control other people? A tangle of power, conflicting interests and fear of the other is created – with all the consequences that entails.

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Everywhere there are groups that can or cannot live together. In my project for which I returned lately I tell the story 'Whose is the land?' It is about an (is)land with 2 protagonists. The human and the goat. The goat does not only stand for the literal goat or the animal, but for the other. Everyone else. Do we have a say in the other? Whose is the land?

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The series will consist of a combination of documentary, archive(?), conceptual and studio work. 

The conceptual and studio work are planned for spring 2025. 

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The project is funded by Anna Cornelis Fonds, a fund for documentary photography

Fonds Anna Cornelis | Subsidies voor documentaire fotografen

 

The images on this page are not in order. It's also not THE selection and some work still has to be made. It's just a collection page for work in progress. Hidden page - not sharable.