The Polderland photos are taken in the youngest province of the Netherlands, the Noordoostpolder and Flevopolder. The landscape is planned to maximize its exploitation. After building the dikes to grind it and protect it from flooding, ditches and waterways were dug for drainage, roads were constructed, farms built and trees planted. The new land was designed for agriculture, industry, urbanization, recreation and nature.
The dikes protects the land from the water: the same water where people find moments for leisure. The fields have the highest yield per hectare in the world. An important nature reserve is created where heavy industry was planned first and sand from the sea is sprayed on the areas where houses will be built.

Nature and culture are still very much separated from each other in this landscape. That is how I represent my photographs of these polders, straightforward as two planes that touch each other in the horizon. It is the simplicity in the landscape that I want to emphasize.

The images are taken on a 12x20 inch negative format. Platinum impressions are made of this. All prints are contact printed. I experimented with chemistry to create different hues for each print. Each image has therefore a character on its own despite the formal organization of the image itself.

Polderland 1 - 14, 28x48 cm, edition of 10, 2004

Materialiteit an Abstractie: beleefd landschap en waargenomen landschap door Ali Shobeiri