Mastodawn

Martin Parr passed today.

I saw his work for the first time at FOAM in Amsterdam, some than 20 years ago. It captivated me.

He curated an exhibition of Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken around that same time, also at FOAM. Van der Elsken captured Amsterdam like Parr captured New Brighton in The Last Resort - peeling away enough layers to get to the essence of places and the people that occupy them.

Parr:
https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/martin-parr-the-last-resort/

v/d Elsken (1h, cherry pick)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1a6W2ZA8v0

The Last Resort • Martin Parr • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos

Show thread

Martijn van Exel Dec 8

Watching bits and pieces of v/d Elsken's MY AMSTERDM film made me feel nostalgic.

I moved to Amsterdam in '91, less than 10 years after the film was made. Amsterdam still felt very much like that when I arrived - a scrappy city where all kinds of colorful people felt at home and so much of life happened on the street.

I don't want to romanticize, Amsterdam had its serious problems back then. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide if the city is in a better place today.

Show thread

Martijn van Exel Dec 8

but hey, I don't think you could live in a place like this as a student today!

(You can see my computer screen through the window. I was working on my thesis and probably needed to get some fresh air to un-fry my brain.)

Right next door to my place was one of those typical Amsterdam bars that you'd find on almost every street corner. Open all day, more like an extension of people's living rooms than anything else. Spent way too much time there.

Haha! Good nostalgia trip on my birthday!

Show thread

Martijn van Exel

Just remembered the bar was called "Café Looiers" - named for the canal Looiersgracht on which it sat. The cross street I lived on was Eerste Looiersdwarsstraat. A mouthful.

The word 'Looiers' refers to the tanning industry that was concentrated in this part of town for a short while. Tanning is a smelly business. Citizens didn't want it in the city, so it kept being pushed out. In the early 1600s, my neighborhood was just outside of the city proper (then enclosed by Prinsengracht). #Amsterdam