Bertus Gerssen

Background

About Bertus Gerssen

My name is Bertus Gerssen (1974). I am a documentary photographer. In 2008 I graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague with the book "Who is there will stay there'. It is a documentary photography book about the youth of my native village Urk. I started this project from my curiosity into why the local youth chose to remain in their village, instead of going to study in other cities and discover the outside world. A selection of photographs from the book was published in a supplement of the newspaper NRC entitled 'Enclaves'. Late 2008/early 2009 I made a series about squatting in the countryside, a fairly unknown phenomenon that occurs across the Netherlands. The series on rural squatters was published in 'Vrij Nederland'. For the assignment 'DocuDenHaag' by 'Het Nutshuis' I portrayed residents of The Hague in terms of 'The social landscape of The Hague'. For 'De Volkskrant-magazine' of October 2010 I made a series of six portraits of squatters entitled 'Forbidden to dwell'. Both NRC-Next, and NRC Handelsblad published pictures of my small documentary about Surinam men and their songbirds. These are a few examples of my social documentary work. In my work I concentrate on the life of 'regular' people. I point my lens at youth, living communities and social injustice, to name a few. Bertus Gerssen photography Spijkermakersstraat 116 2512 ET, Den Haag The Netherlands info[at]bertusgerssen[dot]nl +31 6 4178 9582 Specialties: Documentary and portrait photography