A Million Dollar View

It is the few, if any, who will proudly stand by their own vanity. But it is always there, hidden, held down, fine-tuned, manipulated, for many different reasons – and sometimes for the better in all of us. And it can, I think, be extremely interesting to take a closer look at, to enlarge and highlight, to let loose.

And whereas we – the young and the middle-aged – have all kinds of opportunities to shape and nurture our vain tendencies on social media channels, there is a generation whose vanities are rarely exposed nor demanded: the elderly.

Henny is her name. Well, actually, she was born Hendrika Catharina Louise. She also had a ”show name” for whenever she hosted fashion shows in her fashion boutique. That was Juliette, because it sounded French and she liked that.

My project is a series that explores identity through photography. It’s a portrait of a woman afraid of getting older who begins to redefine herself as a character.

Henny lives on the 6th floor of a concrete apartment building. She lives alone with Bella, her dog – her husband passed away ve years ago. Together, she and her husband had moved in because of the apartment’s ”million-dollar ocean view.” They wanted to feel free, she told me one afternoon while smoking a cigarette in her kitchen.

Henny’s late husband had worked as a portrait photographer and she as a fashion stylist. From introducing me to this part of her life, Henny and I started working together, trying to capture a piece of her fabulous past. We slowly, but steadily started to create a space that allowed us to explore her as a character by styling her in her own old clothes and embracing her perception of herself.

With Henny in the role of the stylist and me as the photographer – a dynamic reminding her of her late husband, Peter – the meetings became playful explorations of their shared past.

Henny does not only perform as my model but also functions as a collaborator. Together we confront the perceived conformity and vulnerability of the older generation by capturing Henny as the brave character that she is.

Henny and I have been working on this series for almost four years now and it is still ongoing.