https://rbakker.com Roelof Bakker – artist Tue, 06 May 2025 11:56:33 +0000 https://rbakker.com en https://rbakker.com/Home Sat, 08 May 2021 13:53:23 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/Home <img width="1143" height="1600" width_o="1143" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6adcec4a228b4c36d534b3af4564e24bf5e65f4da85c9372fa2a1b0bcd9af9bb/RB-A-Design-For-Care-As-Activism-front.jpg" data-mid="239498509" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6adcec4a228b4c36d534b3af4564e24bf5e65f4da85c9372fa2a1b0bcd9af9bb/RB-A-Design-For-Care-As-Activism-front.jpg" /> https://rbakker.com/Work Thu, 03 Jun 2021 20:10:05 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/Work PROJECTS/BOOKS 2020-2025 Everything Is So Very Much Connected – with Sarah Bodman 2025All The Sunflowers 2021-2025Plastic Particles In My Testicles 2025Eighteen Years Old 2024 Magnificent Bodies 2024Some Queer Animals 2023-2024 The Spots That Never Went2018-2023The Night Diana Died2022The Other Side Of The Hedge 2021Eavesdropping – with Jane Wildgoose 2021 Unprocessed/A Boy’s Own Trauma2020 PROJECTS/BOOKS 2010-2020 These Pleasures A Wayward Distraction 2020 Fragile2020After The Fall 2019 How Many Hopes Lie Buried Here Mother2016Strong Room – with Jane Wildgoose2014Wanderlust2011 Still2010-2012INFO ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/Info Thu, 03 Jun 2021 20:13:32 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/Info I’m an artist exploring the dynamic relationship between image, text and form. I experiment with historical and contemporary photographic processes, write and make artist’s books which are published by Negative Press, an imprint I established in 2012. Recent artist’s books and projects address nature, climate collapse and the violent relationship of humans towards the natural world and to ourselves. &nbsp; • everything is so very much connected (Negative Press, 2025) is a book collating a mail art collage correspondence with artist Sarah Bodman. In art and writing we respond to topics relating to nature, the environment and climate collapse. • Plastic Particles In My Testicles (Negative Press, 2025) confronts the unsettling reality of microplastics pollution inside human bodies in a glossy photography book illustrated with plastic analogue positive film photography. • Magnificent Bodies (Negative Press, 2024). A box set of photographs of dead insects hand-printed at an enormous scale highlights the demise of flying insect numbers in the UK while showing the magnificent beauty of individual insects. •&nbsp;Eighteen Years Old (Negative Press, 2024). In a tabloid newspaper of photographs of broken trees and writing without punctuation, I recall the evening a gang of queer bashers set out to attack me. • Some Queer Animals (Negative Press, 2023) collates life size postmortem cameraless contact printed cyanotype portraits of British wildlife killed on roads and in the landscape of one English village, the process of making proposing a mutually caring relationship with wildlife and nature, to nurture not destroy. Shortlist 2024 Author Book Award, Arles Les Rencontres de la Photographie, France. Shortlist EI2024 Photobook Award, Braga, Portugal. Finalist Photobooks Photofrome 2025, Frome, UK Books from Negative Press (www.neg-press.com) are in international collections including Museum of Modern Art Library, New York, US; Wellcome Foundation Library, London, UK; National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Artists’ Book Collection, Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany; Bibliothèque Musée Français de la Photographie, Bièvres, France; Artist Book Collection, Bower Ashton Library, University of West England, UK; National Poetry Library, London, UK. Exhibitions include Photofusion, London; Bruce Castle Museum, London; La Mécanique Génerale, Arles, France; Winchester Gallery, Winchester; Bower Ashton Library, Bristol; Foyles Gallery, London; Dutch Centre, London; Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge; Bury Art Museum, Bury; and Marginal Arts Festival, Roanoke, Virginia, US. My writing appears in short fiction anthologies, journals and academic publications.Based in Hastings, UK, I graduated in 2019 from Cambridge School of Art. My MA Fine Art show was awarded the Cambridge Artspace Residency. roelofbakker(@)mac.com &nbsp; @roelof_bakker www.neg-press.com <img width="1600" height="1600" width_o="1600" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/47e915fc27dd80ec70ab135019537fa439c5227746d9182e7443af0e618be99e/Roelof-Bakker-Some-Queer-Animals-Arles-2024-1600px.jpg" data-mid="236150601" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/47e915fc27dd80ec70ab135019537fa439c5227746d9182e7443af0e618be99e/Roelof-Bakker-Some-Queer-Animals-Arles-2024-1600px.jpg" /> CV ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/Plastic-Particles-In-My-Testicles Tue, 06 May 2025 11:56:33 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/Plastic-Particles-In-My-Testicles &nbsp; &nbsp; <img width="1599" height="1204" width_o="1599" height_o="1204" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f9408acdcfd7df51f898e258dd82c0fe0b54c703197ec7a42a48cbb1be737b62/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-web-1600px.jpg" data-mid="239790668" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f9408acdcfd7df51f898e258dd82c0fe0b54c703197ec7a42a48cbb1be737b62/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-web-1600px.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="1244" width_o="1600" height_o="1244" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32a33dbc8257ad78e94dc704de4fdff07724d7968c8b82b88800957215232eb5/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-centre-crop-1600.jpg" data-mid="239790677" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/32a33dbc8257ad78e94dc704de4fdff07724d7968c8b82b88800957215232eb5/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-centre-crop-1600.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="1219" width_o="1600" height_o="1219" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4199a7a82bcc0ac3ac2c8d1eae0f2ed275940d2b217286520a3157a35940a16b/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-book-fuji2-1600-crop.jpg" data-mid="239790924" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4199a7a82bcc0ac3ac2c8d1eae0f2ed275940d2b217286520a3157a35940a16b/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-book-fuji2-1600-crop.jpg" /> <img width="843" height="1200" width_o="843" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e79381e8a12ace65e2c6370e33138f347c5beb56b46d306a85756276c1686cab/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-In-My-Testicles-1200.jpg" data-mid="236793561" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/843/i/e79381e8a12ace65e2c6370e33138f347c5beb56b46d306a85756276c1686cab/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-In-My-Testicles-1200.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="1131" width_o="1600" height_o="1131" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/755d0662ab58016b7c7302d17d4796f7c14556856bb2079ff2cb8a236df30427/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Skies-4-1600.jpg" data-mid="233508140" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/755d0662ab58016b7c7302d17d4796f7c14556856bb2079ff2cb8a236df30427/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Skies-4-1600.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="1253" width_o="1600" height_o="1253" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2f2118b89578c0f26db01b1e250f7412717f125d9155a217c96fe80d20b83cbf/Roelof-Bakker-Photogra-Resin.jpg" data-mid="236796269" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2f2118b89578c0f26db01b1e250f7412717f125d9155a217c96fe80d20b83cbf/Roelof-Bakker-Photogra-Resin.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="1600" width_o="1600" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/56c6239ba1f0216985eaea159420ea0b60e9f4b22e8a9222fe0bfae702e9e601/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-book-punch-1600.jpg" data-mid="239790994" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/56c6239ba1f0216985eaea159420ea0b60e9f4b22e8a9222fe0bfae702e9e601/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-Particles-book-punch-1600.jpg" /> <img width="1290" height="1600" width_o="1290" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/89e3fc3a9159052b7fe49b02edbca9559bdb6504d1615fed4eba9a33ddab379c/RoelofBakker-particulate-collodion.jpg" data-mid="232851973" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/89e3fc3a9159052b7fe49b02edbca9559bdb6504d1615fed4eba9a33ddab379c/RoelofBakker-particulate-collodion.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="1295" width_o="1600" height_o="1295" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/39c75fae932c1370b7f0509e8b5e5a65a4a96cc2c55ccd184935073ea6318c4a/Roelof-Bakker-Fuji-Neg.jpg" data-mid="236796296" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/39c75fae932c1370b7f0509e8b5e5a65a4a96cc2c55ccd184935073ea6318c4a/Roelof-Bakker-Fuji-Neg.jpg" /> Plastic Particles In My Testicles Artist’s book, 2025Plastic Particles In My Testicles is an A4 saddle-stitched artist’s book of plastic-rich analogue images confronting the unsettling reality of microplastic pollution in human bodies. If photographic materials are made with plastics that eventually break down into tiny fragments, then how much of photography itself resides within us? The book is printed on glossy paperstock with a gloss varnish (plastic) cover. Recent research shows that microplastics (tiny plastic particles of 5mm or less in size) enter human bodies by ingestion, inhalation and via skin contact, and accumulate in our organs. They’re in our hearts, lungs, bowels, brains and testicles; and are found in blood, breast milk, urine and semen.&nbsp;Scientists are researching the negative impact of microplastics on our health with studies suggesting they may contribute to neurological symptoms, respiratory issues and inflammatory bowel disease. This research is still at its early stages (see links below). Experimenting with plastic-rich historical photographic media and playing with scale in the publication, I photographed skies with a plastic 1970s Polaroid 420 camera using discontinued Fuji FP-100C Instant Colour Film, reclaiming and lifting negatives to create a series of ‘Plastic Skies’, human marks an integral part of the prints. Two nudes were photographed with a 1980s Polaroid SLR 680 camera using discontinued positive Polaroid 600 Instant Colour Film. Two photograms, ‘Base Laminated With Plastic On Both Sides’, were printed in the darkroom using contemporary Ilford Multigrade Resin Coated Deluxe Pearl, a photo paper with a paper base encapsulated in two thin layers of polyethylene, a common type of plastic.In ‘Becoming Plastic’, four wet plate collodion tintype self-portraits, I use plastic sheeting over my face and chest to express my horror at my body becoming increasingly polluted with microplastics as I contemplate their impact on my physical and neurological health. These portraits also link the invention of plastic by Alexander Parkes in&nbsp;1862 to the 1851 invention of the wet plate collodion process by Scott Archer, both polluting and toxic processes. &nbsp; Plastics were introduced into photography in the 1890s by Kodak. Since then millions of non-biodegradable photographs and negatives have been discarded (as well as plastic cameras, film cannisters and other plastic photography accessories). If photographs contain plastics and plastics break down into microplastics, then how much photography is inside our bodies? Publication date 8 August 2025&nbsp; A4 size, 36pp, saddle-stitched Pages 150gsm glossy paper, cover 250gsm gloss varnish Published by Negative Press London Printed in England Buy&nbsp;https://negativepresslondon.bigcartel.com/product/plastic-particles-in-my-testicles <img width="1600" height="1132" width_o="1600" height_o="1132" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eb5380b5ff117c837a45dd201678e16415573c46407e95e71f0fe8414dd151dd/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-polaroid.jpg" data-mid="236796377" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eb5380b5ff117c837a45dd201678e16415573c46407e95e71f0fe8414dd151dd/Roelof-Bakker-Plastic-polaroid.jpg" /> Plastic Particles In My Testicles – in Quand la création s'empare de l'édition / When Creation Takes Over Publishing, University of Lille, Lille, France 12-14 November 2025 Plastic Particles In My Testicles – Small Publishers Fair, Conway Hall, London, 24-25 October 2025 News and science articles about microplastics pollution, 2025-2022 • Is there plastic in your tea?, Which?, October 2025 https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/is-there-plastic-in-your-tea- •&nbsp;Microplastics are everywhere, even in human testicles. So will the patriarchy finally step in? The Guardian, July 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/07/microplastics-are-everywhere-even-in-human-testicles-so-will-the-patriarchy-finally-step-in • The Life of Plastic, The Guardian, July 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/jul/28/the-life-of-microplastic-how-fragments-move-through-plants-insects-animals-and-you • Everything you should know about microplastics, United Nations Environment Program, June 2025 https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/everything-you-should-know-about-microplastics• 4 things you didn’t know about microplastics pollution, World Economic forum, April 2025 https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/04/impact-microplastics-environment-health/• New study finds 1,450% increase in microplastic levels within soil, March 2025, Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, March 2025 https://www.rgu.ac.uk/news/news-2025/7961-new-study-finds-1-450-increase-in-microplastic-levels-within-soil-after-four-years-of-sewage-sludge-application• Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation,&nbsp;The Guardian, March 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/10/microplastics-hinder-plant-photosynthesis-study-finds-threatening-millions-with-starvation • Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers,&nbsp;Mongabay, March 2025 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/microplastic-within-humans-now-a-health-crisis-interview-with-plastic-people-filmmakers/• Microplastic presence in dog and human testis and its potential association with sperm count and weights of testis and epididymis Toxicological Sciences, August 2024 https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/200/2/235/7673133?login=false • Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show: ‘There’s nowhere left untouched’,&nbsp;The Guardian, August 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/microplastics-brain-pollution-health• Microplastics are everywhere — we need to understand how they affect human health, Nature Medicine, April 2024 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-02968-x• Microplastics are in our bodies. Here’s why we don’t know the health risks, Science News, March 2023 https://www.sciencenews.org/article/microplastics-human-bodies-health-risks • Microplastics from textiles: towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe, European Environment Agency, February 2022 https://www.eea.europa.eu/ • Microplastics found in human blood for first time, The Guardian,&nbsp;March 2022https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/microplastics-found-in-human-blood-for-first-time WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/Eavesdropping Fri, 11 Jun 2021 08:27:23 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/Eavesdropping <img width="800" height="1067" width_o="800" height_o="1067" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e026e9fe99559685b002747ccc9872e7104a9331a3e38c9ef513a7f92735d109/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-7.jpg" data-mid="111106995" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/e026e9fe99559685b002747ccc9872e7104a9331a3e38c9ef513a7f92735d109/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-7.jpg" /> <img width="800" height="1041" width_o="800" height_o="1041" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6befa6775479037986b7d348e4d6c92b5df28c824c3a44531f94972a4959aeb0/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-2.jpg" data-mid="111106996" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/6befa6775479037986b7d348e4d6c92b5df28c824c3a44531f94972a4959aeb0/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-2.jpg" /> <img width="800" height="1055" width_o="800" height_o="1055" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/371264f12dd8cc24e5bdb8f5ae6ef5a047808719f90f82c6fb3762197b2876a7/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-8.jpg" data-mid="111106994" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/371264f12dd8cc24e5bdb8f5ae6ef5a047808719f90f82c6fb3762197b2876a7/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-8.jpg" /> <img width="800" height="1037" width_o="800" height_o="1037" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/23181a10328625388edb9555701343e2f1b3a33d6cc4bdcb8ddcf0302e759e34/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-1.jpg" data-mid="111078805" border="0" alt="Seven portraits from Eavesdropping" data-caption="Seven portraits from Eavesdropping" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/23181a10328625388edb9555701343e2f1b3a33d6cc4bdcb8ddcf0302e759e34/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-1.jpg" /> <img width="800" height="1075" width_o="800" height_o="1075" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f0cd7d1f77a2e85e743069d9d0918c374a64983d5a85614adbd37748033af607/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-9.jpg" data-mid="111106993" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/f0cd7d1f77a2e85e743069d9d0918c374a64983d5a85614adbd37748033af607/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-9.jpg" /> <img width="800" height="1064" width_o="800" height_o="1064" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2df35fb0504aa97cc0c557b58ed291cdfc4016fa53fcf589bd431e73acc39f67/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-6.jpg" data-mid="111078807" border="0" alt="Seven of twenty five prints of the Eavesdropping series" data-caption="Seven of twenty five prints of the Eavesdropping series" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/2df35fb0504aa97cc0c557b58ed291cdfc4016fa53fcf589bd431e73acc39f67/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-6.jpg" /> <img width="800" height="1056" width_o="800" height_o="1056" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5b551d379b13b837365edfbcc70c5b731f858b127a7c213d289b602ee8c7303f/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-12.jpg" data-mid="111106992" border="0" alt="Seven of twenty-five cyanotype portraits " data-caption="Seven of twenty-five cyanotype portraits " src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/5b551d379b13b837365edfbcc70c5b731f858b127a7c213d289b602ee8c7303f/RoelofBakker_JaneWildgoose-12.jpg" /> Eavesdropping – with Jane Wildgoose&nbsp; Cyanotype portraits and short film, 2021 Eavesdropping explores the potential of the cyanotype process to create multiple impressions from one image. During 2020, I contact-printed twenty-five unique cyanotype prints using the same negative of a portrait of artist Jane Wildgoose. As part of my&nbsp; experiments, some of the prints were toned with tea and coffee, creating sepia-like prints. The image used was from a shoot I did some years previously when I photographed Jane Wildgoose at The Wildgoose Memorial Library in London. A short film explores the animating qualities of the prints when placed in a timeline, the images together acting similar to the&nbsp; experience of flicking the pages of a flip book. The film in a sense can be seen as an animated artist’s book. The still portraits slowly merge with a video portrait of the same scene with Jane Wildgoose subtly smiling at the viewer before fading away. Words, written and read by Jane Wildgoose and recorded during a talk, accompany the film. The text taken out of context becomes a comment on the dynamic relationship between muse and photographer, subject and viewer, of watching and being watched.&nbsp;I was delighted when at the close of 2020,&nbsp;Rebecca Duclos, Professor of Art History at Concordia University in Montreal commissioned me to produce video footage of The Wildgoose Memorial Library, working with the reduced daylight available at that time of year. Collaborating with Jane Wildgoose, I created a video archive of the Library before it was to be dismantled for renovation and redecoration. Cyanotype portraits and video of Jane Wildgoose by Roelof Bakker. Text from a live reading by Jane Wildgoose from her essay ‘A Visit to the Archives’ in Strong Room (Roelof Bakker &amp; Jane Wildgoose, Negative Press London, 2014).&nbsp;www.janewildgoose.co.uk www.rbakker.com/Strong-Room Cyanotype portraits on Arches Platine, 310gsm, 8.3cm x11cm &nbsp; High definition video, colour, sound, 1:37 min, 2021&nbsp; WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/The-Spots-That-Never-Went Tue, 08 Jun 2021 08:48:16 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/The-Spots-That-Never-Went <img width="1600" height="1580" width_o="1600" height_o="1580" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4fbb11e135a65566a00f7cc0eab52bd68e8381ee6871e91bd533c8ba3aca8b99/RoelofBakker_Untitled-The-Spots-That-Never-Went-72dpi.jpg" data-mid="121038047" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4fbb11e135a65566a00f7cc0eab52bd68e8381ee6871e91bd533c8ba3aca8b99/RoelofBakker_Untitled-The-Spots-That-Never-Went-72dpi.jpg" /><img width="1176" height="1600" width_o="1176" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/84292597b06c1226a8111a0aaa18bd056e64632b368fce94178dbe61047b792e/Roelof-Bakker-Spots-Subversion-I-fullframe-72dpi.jpg" data-mid="121038044" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/84292597b06c1226a8111a0aaa18bd056e64632b368fce94178dbe61047b792e/Roelof-Bakker-Spots-Subversion-I-fullframe-72dpi.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="1067" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/48d20fbc32384259cc11ad8a394ac08f54032f541f9525d3a51473a0d27fe10b/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Exhibit_view2.jpg" data-mid="110707568" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/48d20fbc32384259cc11ad8a394ac08f54032f541f9525d3a51473a0d27fe10b/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Exhibit_view2.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="1067" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a14ba412c0f103968bfe33a454efd6654ea56b01f5bd8bc350caa4580c23b397/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Exhibit_view1.jpg" data-mid="110707569" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a14ba412c0f103968bfe33a454efd6654ea56b01f5bd8bc350caa4580c23b397/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Exhibit_view1.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="818" width_o="1600" height_o="818" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32ecf9d80153a01e331efb9a1bb187814d50e9f93a6a946a4d380c5c5c72379d/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Smoke2.jpg" data-mid="111775860" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/32ecf9d80153a01e331efb9a1bb187814d50e9f93a6a946a4d380c5c5c72379d/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Smoke2.jpg" /> <img width="1176" height="1600" width_o="1176" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/84f03b7e2b0bf7b85a4412cbad9375766dee0f309486b0d89e0a56688df12137/Roelof-Bakker-I-Remember-Young-Men-fullframe-72dpi.jpg" data-mid="121038051" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/84f03b7e2b0bf7b85a4412cbad9375766dee0f309486b0d89e0a56688df12137/Roelof-Bakker-I-Remember-Young-Men-fullframe-72dpi.jpg" /><img width="2016" height="1512" width_o="2016" height_o="1512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/67a1167380877ea2c3ca39b359005e4200ceff4f84a29717a08c3b7a404c8672/MySon-Peformance-RoelofBakker-2021.jpg" data-mid="142944119" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/67a1167380877ea2c3ca39b359005e4200ceff4f84a29717a08c3b7a404c8672/MySon-Peformance-RoelofBakker-2021.jpg" /><img width="1067" height="1600" width_o="1067" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1c1ef7a37e6d4e6d6a92aa4a69efa681a5e755d5bf460f3ca7570815f11e1a63/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Missing.jpg" data-mid="111775857" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1c1ef7a37e6d4e6d6a92aa4a69efa681a5e755d5bf460f3ca7570815f11e1a63/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Book-Missing.jpg" /> <img width="1176" height="1600" width_o="1176" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/82c84486956dc220ba771e0223e0f8282ad9e0d997a130a08d50dae109c37102/Roelof-Bakker-Police-fullframe-72dpi.jpg" data-mid="121038050" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/82c84486956dc220ba771e0223e0f8282ad9e0d997a130a08d50dae109c37102/Roelof-Bakker-Police-fullframe-72dpi.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="1067" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c5dabb1cdbf17f9a4b55b6f54c8ce940ae111a8428ddcb315a6660c6a8a0108b/Roelof-Bakker-Exhibition-Photofusion-artists-book-web.jpg" data-mid="122798577" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c5dabb1cdbf17f9a4b55b6f54c8ce940ae111a8428ddcb315a6660c6a8a0108b/Roelof-Bakker-Exhibition-Photofusion-artists-book-web.jpg" /> The Spots That Never Went Artist’s book, 2018 (reprint 2020) – Highly Commended Finalist of 2019 Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing, presented by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Exhibition Cambridge Artspace, Cambridge, 2020 Exhibition Photofusion London, 2021 A Silent Reading, Stormy Weather, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, 2022&nbsp; Spoken word performance, Hastings Bookshop, 2023 The Spots That Never Went is a personal response to memories of the AIDS crisis in 1980s-90s London and the lasting impact on a generation. Originally an artist’s book presented as a tabloid newspaper in which abstract halftone images face short sentences, such as ‘I remember a time when the police raided bars and clubs wearing decontamination suits and gloves’, the book evolved into an exhibition exploring storytelling using image, text, artefact and live performance. In 2023, the text was developed into a spoken word piece. The book reclaims the tabloid format from the 1980s/90s UK tabloid press and their bigoted and hateful reporting on the lives of lesbian women and gay men, the AIDS pandemic and people living with HIV/AIDS. The book is also an experiment in making a publication using one photograph. A Polaroid photograph of a rotting, spotted apple held tenderly in the palm of a hand,&nbsp;is converted to a mono halftone image, segments of which create twelve abstract, black and white photographs, expressing fragmented memories and forgotten history, while also communicating ideas about life and death, loss and hope and of HIV-positive and HIV-negative status. A colour reproduction of the original Polaroid photograph, an image of care and love, is tipped on into the centre of the book, bringing transparency to the process of making.The Spots That Never Went was Highly Commended Finalist of the 2019 Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing, presented by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. The Spots That Never Went, A Silent Reading. Shown at Stormy Weather – Derek Jarman Protest! symposium at Manchester Art Gallery, 8 April 2022 The Spots That Never Went – 28pp tabloid newspaper with 4pp broadsheet supplement collated in archival pocket. 28pp tabloid newspaper, 289mm x 380mm; glued-on colour print (100mm x 100mm); folded 4pp broadsheet newspaper, (350mm x 500mm); archival pocket, sticker, archival board. Printed in Great Britain on 55gsm EU Ecolabel and FSC certified newsprint. First edition published 9 November 2018 Collections include Wellcome Library, London, National Art Library, V&amp;A Museum, London and National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.A spoken word version of the book was performed 28 November 2023 at Hastings Bookshop. A silent reading video version of the book was part of a triptych performance with writer Darryl Peers at Stormy Weather, a Derek Jarman Protest! symposium at Manchester Art Gallery on 8 April 2022, organised by artist Jez Dolan and the Queer British Art Research Group. An article to the background of the book appears in The Blue Notebook journal, Vol 14, No.2, Spring-Summer 2020 (Bristol: Impact Press at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol). https://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/tbn/x1878/33fe/tbn28.pdf The book was included in ‘The Performing Photobook’ at Format&nbsp; Photography Festival, Derby, UK, 2023; in the exhibition ‘Print: A Catalyst for Social Change’, Bury Art Museum, Bury, 2019 and in ‘Salon 18’, Photofusion, London, 2018. &nbsp;Sarah Bodman from the Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR), UWE Bristol, selected it as one of ten artists’ books of 2018, writing, ‘It’s a brutally simple, heartbreaking thing – we need to read more books like this.’ https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/artists-books-2018-10-of-the-best-from-irreverent-fun-to-brutal-heartbreak <img width="1600" height="1298" width_o="1600" height_o="1298" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b18feb3fd4d682e29015937f14ea81210a6f00a16bdac5e671159afa0d1d839e/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_package.jpg" data-mid="110707610" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b18feb3fd4d682e29015937f14ea81210a6f00a16bdac5e671159afa0d1d839e/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_package.jpg" /> Exhibition, Photofusion, London, 21 October to 3 December 2021 For both the London and Cambridge exhibitions, I responded to the newspaper by unresolving its format and making new work, using wild apples retrieved at the end of the apple season in and around Cambridge, working with form, scale, overlaying and appropriation.&nbsp; The halftone images and text elements are reinterpreted&nbsp; as recyclable A0 Xerox prints with additional works in colour. Enlarged halftone dots become lasercut sculptural artefacts, which spread in the gallery space like a virus multiplying. Sorrow, a punched Polaroid print with black ribbon, shows a naked vulnerable body in mourning. <img width="1222" height="1600" width_o="1222" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5f207b5c414b53db8bdc4ce1561b513cebac2daa29f1be16b32c0f06a1027804/Roelof-Bakker-Some-Are-Here-Some-Are-Missing-72dpi.jpg" data-mid="121038049" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5f207b5c414b53db8bdc4ce1561b513cebac2daa29f1be16b32c0f06a1027804/Roelof-Bakker-Some-Are-Here-Some-Are-Missing-72dpi.jpg" />In other artefacts paintings by fellow Dutchman and former London resident Vincent van Gogh are appropriated and modified. Mitchell Moreno reviewing the show for Photomonitor, writes, ‘The apple is another recurring theme – a symbol of prelapsarian innocence and utopia, now fallen and turned bad. For the artist the fruit also acts as a proxy for his English lovers, as in “Some Are Here And Some Are Missing”, where apples lay on top of a copy of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” – symbolising Bakker’s Dutch body.’ Two performance works, Nineteen Eighty Seven and My Son were performed live throughout the duration of the show evoking inter-generational discussion, sharing histories and personal experience.&nbsp;(Above, photograph by Elizabeth Doak)&nbsp; Photomonitor review of the Brixton show by Mitchell Moreno at&nbsp;https://photomonitor.co.uk/exhibition/roelof-bakker-the-spots-that-never-went/ The Spots That Never Went, Cambridge Artspace, Cambridge, Gay History Month, February 2020A work-in-progress exhibition, Gay History Month, February 2020, Cambridge Artspace, Cambridge Following on from a residency at Cambridge Artspace in autumn 2019, I developed this first exhibition of the work at Artspace, which included an earlier version of the performance work Nineteen Eighty Seven.&nbsp; <img width="1600" height="1200" width_o="1600" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/440e3e119b51a69983472df90cc1f0a7a2f1b50101f375fc21e14fbbffd09014/Spots_exhibit_performance.jpg" data-mid="110706999" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/440e3e119b51a69983472df90cc1f0a7a2f1b50101f375fc21e14fbbffd09014/Spots_exhibit_performance.jpg" /><img width="1200" height="1202" width_o="1200" height_o="1202" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/87878838ca2ab164ef7c376cdea76a4bf9ddda561e30a3f8c86ffd986d0b8817/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Falling.jpg" data-mid="111104171" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/87878838ca2ab164ef7c376cdea76a4bf9ddda561e30a3f8c86ffd986d0b8817/Roelof-Bakker_The_Spots_That_Never_Went_Falling.jpg" /> Buy at&nbsp;https://www.neg-press.com/product/the-spots-that-never-went WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/After-the-Fall Tue, 08 Jun 2021 10:16:58 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/After-the-Fall <img width="1200" height="800" width_o="1200" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d53b0f2d7898b75a4fc62d3fb02c9d1e8846718cefa68fbd3a61c1e924701ad1/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_1.jpg" data-mid="110715129" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d53b0f2d7898b75a4fc62d3fb02c9d1e8846718cefa68fbd3a61c1e924701ad1/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_1.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f004b95dca4b8cd4878bdd67dbb0cc715e651d27657fe42518b43c9c00fb0884/RoelofBakker-After-the-Fall-Not-Knowing-nails.jpg" data-mid="111281290" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f004b95dca4b8cd4878bdd67dbb0cc715e651d27657fe42518b43c9c00fb0884/RoelofBakker-After-the-Fall-Not-Knowing-nails.jpg" /><img width="1120" height="1600" width_o="1120" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbc9a21488af290f2e5df053fb2bcc407be720d50a4072faaef26ae289186f2d/RoelofBakker-After-the-Fall-Monument.jpg" data-mid="111281039" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dbc9a21488af290f2e5df053fb2bcc407be720d50a4072faaef26ae289186f2d/RoelofBakker-After-the-Fall-Monument.jpg" /><img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/28883e3569b1416e44d4c239e0b5cb414fd6f9e52b4e4992e1dd91edbea43bdd/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_2.jpg" data-mid="110715125" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/28883e3569b1416e44d4c239e0b5cb414fd6f9e52b4e4992e1dd91edbea43bdd/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_2.jpg" /><img width="600" height="400" width_o="600" height_o="400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f5f4167803cf88b76cbd3fb1a20089ed4487c1aa8470f1298169d2dc6ff8030/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_15.jpg" data-mid="110721048" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/8f5f4167803cf88b76cbd3fb1a20089ed4487c1aa8470f1298169d2dc6ff8030/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_15.jpg" /> <img width="1043" height="1414" width_o="1043" height_o="1414" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/41fc9d7556f0a040983aff849bcfe167da1a0c32ff854bbb8eb65464711f0213/RoelofBakker_Garden_of_healing.jpg" data-mid="110724308" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/41fc9d7556f0a040983aff849bcfe167da1a0c32ff854bbb8eb65464711f0213/RoelofBakker_Garden_of_healing.jpg" /><img width="1066" height="1600" width_o="1066" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a15e646336fcb059c248837e62a64af44f03879d83b7a2782621239279f8c8ae/RoelofBakker-After-the-Fall-Entwined-view.jpg" data-mid="111281040" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a15e646336fcb059c248837e62a64af44f03879d83b7a2782621239279f8c8ae/RoelofBakker-After-the-Fall-Entwined-view.jpg" /> <img width="1082" height="721" width_o="1082" height_o="721" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/27b900ae352811fd323b53ff9f2f8343ca610c605635d58dfdfe7ef0a899948c/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_7.jpg" data-mid="110719321" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/27b900ae352811fd323b53ff9f2f8343ca610c605635d58dfdfe7ef0a899948c/RoelofBakker_After-the_Fall_installation_view_7.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="374" width_o="1600" height_o="374" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b29dc55949a95a455e58ac35f3010adefc4e6994b4af243cd161ff936a77fe12/RoelofBakker_After_the_Fall_opening.jpg" data-mid="110715046" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b29dc55949a95a455e58ac35f3010adefc4e6994b4af243cd161ff936a77fe12/RoelofBakker_After_the_Fall_opening.jpg" /> After the Fall Exhibition, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, 2019 Awarded 2019 Cambridge Artworks Residency A multi-layered body of work, After the Fall responds to the aftermath of two unconnected bicycle accidents both involving head injuries, one fatal. The work addresses the vulnerability of the human body and explores ideas around mortality, memory loss, trauma, recovery, remembrance and the healing power of nature, as well exploring the potential of being horizontal in a public space as a live human sculpture. In After The Fall, I respond to the physical and mental impact of having a bicycle accident while living in Cambridge, connecting my fall to the fatal accident of a London cyclist two years previously. In a short text I describe the scene of a female cyclist lying unconscious on a London street, reminding myself to ‘remember to buy a bicyle helmet’, something I had failed to do. To test the functionality of my memory, I learnt the words by heart, in the exhibition reciting the text, China Doll White, with my eyes closed lying on the Ruskin Gallery floor, adopting the body position of the cyclist described.Photography-based artefacts explore stereo photography, book arts, appropriation, the hand-made, digital printing on porcelain, as well as manual digital image manipulation and large format printing. The main work in the show, a bleeding impression of my bandaged head, was fixed to the wall with hundreds of nails, the action of hammering repeating the violence of the accident. These work respond to the site of the accident, address the experience of memory loss, recovery and bring attention to the kindness and care of strangers. Two works explore the healing powers of gardens in photographs recorded at Cambridge Botanic Garden, green spaces I often visited and photographed as part of my recovery process.Broken, knotted rubber bands expose physical signs of damage and repair, of trauma and healing, while at the same time creating cohesion between artefacts in the exhibition. The bands also function as a means to reach out to visitors in the space and imagine a world beyond the gallery, exploring new connections and opportunities. In an Amsterdam-based marble monument to 19th century Dutch painter Therese Schwartze, created by her sister sculptor Georgine, the body position echoes that of the London cyclist. A black and white photograph of this functions as a memorial to the unknown London cyclist. During the exhibition, I performed China Doll White twice a day taking advantage of the gallery’s chapel-like acoustics, adding my physical presence and voice to the exhibition, the performance temporarily changing the show’s dynamics as well as introducing physical vulnerability and fragility. The Ruskin Gallery exhibition (MA Fine Art 2019, Cambridge School of Art) was awarded the 2019 Cambridge Artworks Residency. After the Fall, mixed media. various dimensions China Doll White (In rehearsal, 30 July 2019), high definition video, colour, sound, 3:33 min, 2019<img width="1189" height="1415" width_o="1189" height_o="1415" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a248154ce5a0d7778ab63b5273c275fd2ac77c119914a13f339815edf6e41b7f/RoelofBakker_Muddle.jpg" data-mid="110723396" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a248154ce5a0d7778ab63b5273c275fd2ac77c119914a13f339815edf6e41b7f/RoelofBakker_Muddle.jpg" /> WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/The-Other-Side-Of-The-Hedge Tue, 08 Jun 2021 11:42:11 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/The-Other-Side-Of-The-Hedge The Other Side of the Hedge, video The Long Lost Weekend Playlist at BABE 2021, Bristol A printed dummy of an unpublished artist’s book combining photography and written text is reappropriated and reinvented as a short film. Inkjet-printed pages showing photographs made during a canal-side walk in Tottenham, London, are the raw materials for spontaneous play with paper, form, narration and sound, in a digital video collage juxtaposing photographs of spiderwebs and peeling paint with a harsh reality on the other side of the hedge: traces of a hidden shanty town, previously home to a group of East European immigrants. &nbsp; A narrator questions his relationship with photography, asking, ‘Should I take this photograph or should I not bother?’, whilst documenting human hardship in one of the world’s richest cities, wondering, “What am I going to do with these photographs now that I’ve taken them?” With thanks to Sarah Bodman, Elizabeth Doak and Gisela Torres <img width="2000" height="1460" width_o="2000" height_o="1460" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb6d565967de740243262d1a820408b332c8f99b1324bff59285fceb7348c961/Roelof_Bakker_The_Other_Side_Hedge_pages.jpg" data-mid="110753410" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb6d565967de740243262d1a820408b332c8f99b1324bff59285fceb7348c961/Roelof_Bakker_The_Other_Side_Hedge_pages.jpg" /> The accompanying birdsong was recorded during a self-assigned lockdown residency at The Queer Hut, a desolate wooden structure on a disused railway embankment overlooking fields in the Cambridgeshire countryside. Included in Bristol Artists Book Event April 2021, Arnolfini, Bristol, The Lost Weekend Playlist at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLytJtzE6p3_AliyNMDXb0XdMJxp22GXtJ] High definition video, colour, sound, 4:40 min, 2021 WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/These-Pleasures-a-Wayward-Distraction Tue, 08 Jun 2021 17:03:09 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/These-Pleasures-a-Wayward-Distraction <img width="987" height="1200" width_o="987" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ab031d9e091e4e4cccecc5d5894aedad3f1021a256562f8fda449c6a6576dc31/Lonely_Roelof_Bakker_2.jpg" data-mid="110765777" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/987/i/ab031d9e091e4e4cccecc5d5894aedad3f1021a256562f8fda449c6a6576dc31/Lonely_Roelof_Bakker_2.jpg" /><img width="1356" height="1600" width_o="1356" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e59d7ede4b49976ec71ee36314ce20336fd78a8387b1e046099bbc8b87b685c8/Roelof-Bakker-magenta-graphic-pleasures.jpg" data-mid="111285634" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e59d7ede4b49976ec71ee36314ce20336fd78a8387b1e046099bbc8b87b685c8/Roelof-Bakker-magenta-graphic-pleasures.jpg" /><img width="1328" height="1600" width_o="1328" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e921eaefa239221b613e6e803f0425265f5f0e682d483c0b9e6738cfc6494f91/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-apprehensive.jpg" data-mid="111285631" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e921eaefa239221b613e6e803f0425265f5f0e682d483c0b9e6738cfc6494f91/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-apprehensive.jpg" /><img width="1336" height="1600" width_o="1336" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a22fa57c96e7e6e3198fdcec9f0e155b7b2ca33cbb97d2c93138d1bd0e113873/Roelof-Bakker-Yellow-graphic-pleasures.jpg" data-mid="111285640" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a22fa57c96e7e6e3198fdcec9f0e155b7b2ca33cbb97d2c93138d1bd0e113873/Roelof-Bakker-Yellow-graphic-pleasures.jpg" /><img width="1333" height="1600" width_o="1333" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/501441e1dfc4d0220e1dfebc0dc0b7ed5e5f03635aacab0853a38e6be250cda6/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-fragile.jpg" data-mid="111285630" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/501441e1dfc4d0220e1dfebc0dc0b7ed5e5f03635aacab0853a38e6be250cda6/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-fragile.jpg" /><img width="1353" height="1600" width_o="1353" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5957e0752d6fdf634517f7fb27ed2ef2e83ba27f6afc520a7f01061f62830348/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-wayward.jpg" data-mid="111285632" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5957e0752d6fdf634517f7fb27ed2ef2e83ba27f6afc520a7f01061f62830348/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-wayward.jpg" /><img width="1334" height="1600" width_o="1334" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/db059ecb66f13ed3c13edc09cd41d3869048b5102e5d68d3f15d2444f4ebc7c8/Roelof-Bakker-cyan-graphic-pleasures.jpg" data-mid="111285989" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/db059ecb66f13ed3c13edc09cd41d3869048b5102e5d68d3f15d2444f4ebc7c8/Roelof-Bakker-cyan-graphic-pleasures.jpg" /><img width="1500" height="1500" width_o="1500" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/687db26aebcf0c1c4214aa9c1528eba88b7a970b0c4c445cc2fa9b32d49c15ee/These-Pleasures_Espacio_2020_These_Pleasures.jpg" data-mid="110765510" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/687db26aebcf0c1c4214aa9c1528eba88b7a970b0c4c445cc2fa9b32d49c15ee/These-Pleasures_Espacio_2020_These_Pleasures.jpg" /><img width="1363" height="1600" width_o="1363" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c88cb1dcb2f7c124693f7fd000d336fc2eaae397e772736b9c448fedb6a9ae27/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-title.jpg" data-mid="111285629" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c88cb1dcb2f7c124693f7fd000d336fc2eaae397e772736b9c448fedb6a9ae27/Roelof-Bakker-pleasures-title.jpg" /> These Pleasures A Wayward Distraction&nbsp; Monoprints on toiletpaper‘Reality and its Disorders’, group show at Espacio Gallery, London, 2020A project consisting of monoprints on toilet paper – abstract&nbsp;colour shapes alongside black and white self-portraits,&nbsp;each accompanied by a single word emphasising an emotional state, like ‘Lonely’ or ‘Claustrophobic’, words addressing my closeted and lonely gay adolescence, struggling to come to terms with my sexuality. The work was evoked and produced at the start of the first 2020 lockdown when I again experienced feelings of isolation and loneliness, a time also of a shortage of toilet paper in supermarkets, because of consumer panic-buying induced by the lockdown.&nbsp; Twenty prints were exhibited as a series on Instagram. Eight of these works were included in the&nbsp;group show ‘Reality and its Disorders’ curated by Ahmed Farooqui for the Degrees of Freedom artists’ group in September 2020. The self-portraits respond to Raffaele Monti’s 1860s sculpture ‘The Veiled Lady (The Bride)’ and were photographed with my face and upper body covered in plastic sheeting.&nbsp;The title and a written statement use elements from the lyrics of Isolation by Joy Division (Factory Records, 1980).&nbsp; For the physical show, I reinterpreted ‘Lonely’ as a Xerox poster, the original print enlarged by 1000%, a size exposing the material qualities of toilet paper, while also emphasising the magnitude of loneliness in relation to queerness and the ongoing mental health impact of having been in the closet as a young man. As Michael Hobbs writes in ‘Together Alone, the Epidemic of Gay Loneliness’, Huffington Post, 2 March 2017, ‘Whether we recognize it or not, our bodies bring the closet with us into adulthood’ and feelings of loneliness, isolation and insecurity continue to have an impact on my life. During the show, I test-performed To Step Outside, a recital of a brief text expressing a desire to break out and see the world, developed during a self-assigned residency at The Queer Hut.<img width="606" height="606" width_o="606" height_o="606" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7e2096ec54364a944d9039c08150b74313c4db7a20f046bed0d3fb9c8bf06248/ToStepOutside-RoelofBakker-12-09-21.jpg" data-mid="146349575" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/606/i/7e2096ec54364a944d9039c08150b74313c4db7a20f046bed0d3fb9c8bf06248/ToStepOutside-RoelofBakker-12-09-21.jpg" /> These Pleasures A Wayward Distraction, monoprints on toilet paper, 105mm x 125mm, acrylic sheeting. Xerox print, 1000mm x 760mm &nbsp; WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎ https://rbakker.com/Unprocessed Tue, 08 Jun 2021 16:25:42 +0000 Roelof Bakker – artist https://rbakker.com/Unprocessed <img width="1573" height="1583" width_o="1573" height_o="1583" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f9550fbcc7790d897714a30ad82e27c74e166ce955962f3be369e5dffa0ae160/Roelof_Bakker_Unprocessed_Cover.jpg" data-mid="110758878" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f9550fbcc7790d897714a30ad82e27c74e166ce955962f3be369e5dffa0ae160/Roelof_Bakker_Unprocessed_Cover.jpg" /><img width="798" height="795" width_o="798" height_o="795" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bb67ebdddbd940060d4d4ce9e5198f5908fe0542168bf5725346574494d0e569/Roelof_Bakker_Unprocessed_Rodger-single-photo.jpg" data-mid="110758870" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/798/i/bb67ebdddbd940060d4d4ce9e5198f5908fe0542168bf5725346574494d0e569/Roelof_Bakker_Unprocessed_Rodger-single-photo.jpg" /> Unprocessed Roelof Bakker and George Rodger Artist’s book, 2020 ‘A Boy’s Own Trauma: Revisiting a Photograph Recorded in a Nazi Concentration Camp First Encountered as a Child’&nbsp; Article, European Journal of Lifewriting, 2020 Unprocessed (Negative Press London, 2020) responds visually to research I carried out for my peer-reviewed article ‘A Boy’s Own Trauma: Revisiting a Photograph Recorded in a Nazi Concentration Camp First Encountered as a Child’, published in European Journal of Life Writing, Vol 9, July 2020, University of Groningen Press, Groningen, Netherlands. In both the article and the book, I engage with a George Rodger photograph I first encountered as a child at school in the Netherlands over forty years ago. In the article, I finally develop this photograph, which registered in my mind yet remained unprocessed and actively engage with it as a photographer, investigator and spectator, but also as a human being, integrating thought and feeling into an ethical and responsible process of analysis, connecting the photograph to a world outside its frame, towards a future unknown at the time of exposure. In the book, black squares symbolise a medium-format square negative yet to be developed. The book is an experiment in presenting and discussing unimaginable horror without showing it. The George Rodger photograph is presented in a redacted cropped version, a caption supplying the reader with the missing visual information, as well as giving the name and identity of the boy in the photograph: Sieg Maandag, a seven-year old Dutch Jewish boy, a victim and survivor of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.&nbsp; Brief quotes by Maandag, Rodger and myself, document aspects of each individual’s personal experience in relation to the photograph. I propose a definitive caption to avoid the photograph being misinterpreted, which has often been the case since the photograph’s first publication in 1945. Unprocessed was included in Prima Facia, curator Amir Brito Cador, 8 July to 31 August 2021, Bower Ashton Library, UWE, Bristol https://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/primafacie/; previously in BABE (Bristol Artists Book Event) 2021, Arnolfini, Bristol; and ‘Why Publish?’, Bower Ashton Library, UWE, Bristol, 2020 Read A Boy’s Own Trauma at&nbsp;https://ejlw.eu/article/view/36907/34435 Unprocessed (28pp, 21cm x 21cm, stapled, Negative Press London), availablefrom the Negative Press shop&nbsp; https://negativepresslondon.bigcartel.com/product/unprocessed WORK︎︎︎&nbsp; NEXT ︎︎︎