KENNETH HOPE

7 YEARS                           foto's

During the fall of 2007 I was talking about my work with my close friend Sam Tjioe.
I told him that I was experiencing a creative block. That I could not find any depth in my work.

His response was that the changes I had made in my life - turning my back on commercialism and moving deep into the French countryside - must have had a strong effect on me.
He suggested that perhaps I should try to take inspiration from these changes.

I took his words to heart and set to work; the result being the exhibition “7 years”.

Why seven years? The last seven years have been dominated by deep self-reflection.
Among other things I have learned that, even when faced with adverse criticism, one should never be afraid to show one’s self.

I have tried to record things that have had an effect on me over this last period, as well as things inspired by memory and sometimes simply what my eye falls on.

This body of work is about self-confrontation: the past, coming to terms with both success and failure, growing older and facing the reality of daily life. Therefore it has much to do with the future.

Why the colour red? It could be the influence of both Mark Rothko and Yves Klein, two artists I greatly admire.
Or perhaps it is because, some time ago, when I visited the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, together with my son, some of the windows of the museum had been covered with a transparent red gel.
Looking through at the rainy cityscape seemed unreal, quiet. It fascinated me and I made a photograph with a small digital camera that had been lent to me. It was my first ever digital photograph.

I later downloaded the image onto my computer and was amazed by the quality of the result. At that moment I knew that photography had changed forever and I with it.
It was as if with this technology I had found a new voice.

Kenneth Hope, Les Fougères, 2008