Dutch photographer Ad van Denderen has had a long career in documentary photography, making so many trips for his photo projects that he has often been “en route” as it were. The title of this exhibition also refers to another and perhaps more important sense of being en route.

Ad van Denderen has always searched for new ways of creating an image, ways that make a difference. Of particular note are the depth and tenacity with which he often focused on a single subject for years on end. As a photographer, he was interested in the daily lives of people in situations of ongoing conflict. In an increasingly complex world with changing views of photojournalism, he has endeavored to go beyond clichés, and instead of seeking out the latest news stories, focuses on one particular situation and its underlying processes. Van Denderen developed his own narrative photographic signature and then moved on, around the year 2000, to a more conceptual visual idiom. And with this approach, he shifted the boundaries of documentary photography. Reflection and representation became more important than recording. It became necessary to find another use for photographic techniques and new ways of presenting his work. He switched from black-and-white to color, from a 35mm camera to a medium-format one, and from the printed page in a magazine to the exhibition wall. Remarkably, the subjects he has dealt with for so many years, such as migration and geopolitical conflicts, are still relevant today.

His first major documentary project,Incarcerated 1978-1979, was on a detention center in Amsterdam where he took part in the daily regime, and made friends with some of his fellow detainees. Another early project was on the closure of the coal mines in Winterslag and Waterschei in Belgium: 1987-1988. The mine workers came from all parts of Europe, and after losing their jobs in the mines, did not return to their home countries.