ONLINE EXHIBITION – BASTIAAN WOUDT
It gives us great pleasure to present “Peak”, Bastiaan Woudt’s latest series. The NZZ magazine devoted an eight-page portfolio to the artist last Sunday, writing as follows: “Nepal, home of the highest mountains, is known for its mythic cold. A photographer from the flat Netherlands is impressed. For nearly a month, Bastiaan Woudt, considered one of the most talented contemporary photographers by one of the world’s most renowned photography magazines, travelled to Nepal in the Himalayas. In the area around Annapurna, he climbed to nearly 6000 metres. The resulting photographs, now published in book form, picture not only the cold beauty of this mystical land of snow but also the culture brought forth by exceptional climatic conditions.”
Click here for the video about: Bastiaan Woudt`s travels to Nepal
In his book Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination, Robert MacFarlane writes: “The true blessing of the mountains is not that they provide a challenge or a contest, something to be overcome and dominated. It is that they offer something gentler and infinitely more powerful: they make us ready to credit marvels – whether it is the dark swirl which water makes beneath a plate of ice, or the feel of the soft pelts of moss which form on the lee sides of boulders and trees. Being in the mountains reignites our astonishment at the simplest transactions of the physical world.” For Bastiaan Woudt, the unforgettable journey was additionally heightened by the endless mountain passes and the hypnotizing rhythm of walking. Being so far removed from the rest of the world gave him time and space to think about life and ponder fundamental questions: who am I, where do I want to go? Literally travelling but also as a metaphor of his own life.
Bastiaan Woudt wanted to capture Nepal’s landscape with the same timeless aesthetic as the people he encountered while travelling. From thirteen young monks in a monastery to the owner of a teahouse, his portraits testify to the grace and pride, the strength and wisdom of the Nepalese.
More about the artist
