Otto Snoek – Ukrainian Crossroads
Otto Snoek (Rotterdam 1966) first visited eastern Ukraine in the early nineties. In a period of eleven months, spread over six trips, he photographed various cities and the countryside of the Ukraine in the aftermath of communism. Snoek observed the poor and shattered land and culminated in presenting a final graduation project at the St. Joost Academy in Breda. This travel and work period laid the foundations for his career as a photographer to date.
Snoek has over the years been fascinated by public spaces that act as fusing nodes, such as squares and shopping centres. He refers to them as “social centrifuges” and “turntables,” where everything and everyone seem to accumulate. Various groups with their own codes collectively cluster and logical tensions rub together.
Within any one of Snoek’s photographs, a multitude of things are simultaneously taking place, representing a synopsis of incidents and occurrences. It seems that the extras all play their own role in a non- directed play. Snoek records it in his own incomparable style. Even 23 years ago in the photos that Snoek took of the Ukraine they encompass the same powerful story features. He Photographed the Ukrainians, not only in their malaise but as a proud folk courageously carrying their fate. You can clearly see in Snoek’s pictures that he does not take a cynical point of view from a distance, but he stands in the middle surrounded by the people, even though he does not speak their language.
His trip to the Ukraine as a photographer at such a young age is similar to the first voyage of Dutch predecessors such as Johan van der Kitchen (1938-2001) and Peter Martens (1937-1992). It is the candid view point of a young man who can only restrain his amazement and curiosity through his camera. Snoek lives and works in his hometown Rotterdam.
Willem van Zoetendaal, van Zoetendaal Publishers
Otto Snoek (Rotterdam 1966) first visited eastern Ukraine in the early nineties. In a period of eleven months, spread over six trips, he photographed various cities and the countryside of the Ukraine in the aftermath of communism. Snoek observed the poor and shattered land and culminated in presenting a final graduation project at the St. Joost Academy in Breda. This travel and work period laid the foundations for his career as a photographer to date.
Snoek has over the years been fascinated by public spaces that act as fusing nodes, such as squares and shopping centres. He refers to them as “social centrifuges” and “turntables,” where everything and everyone seem to accumulate. Various groups with their own codes collectively cluster and logical tensions rub together.
Within any one of Snoek’s photographs, a multitude of things are simultaneously taking place, representing a synopsis of incidents and occurrences. It seems that the extras all play their own role in a non- directed play. Snoek records it in his own incomparable style. Even 23 years ago in the photos that Snoek took of the Ukraine they encompass the same powerful story features. He Photographed the Ukrainians, not only in their malaise but as a proud folk courageously carrying their fate. You can clearly see in Snoek’s pictures that he does not take a cynical point of view from a distance, but he stands in the middle surrounded by the people, even though he does not speak their language.
His trip to the Ukraine as a photographer at such a young age is similar to the first voyage of Dutch predecessors such as Johan van der Kitchen (1938-2001) and Peter Martens (1937-1992). It is the candid view point of a young man who can only restrain his amazement and curiosity through his camera. Snoek lives and works in his hometown Rotterdam.
Willem van Zoetendaal, van Zoetendaal Publishers