Betsie van der Meer Farm Photography

Betsie van der Meer Farm HC 23 x 23 cm. KesselsKramer 2005

Betsie grew up on a farm in the south west of the Netherlands. She spent most of her childhood on the farm, leaving when she was about seventeen. She went back to photograph her memories of growing up there. Whilst photographing she learned that the family had to demolish the house and this gave her a sense of urgency: she wanted to have a record of the space before the opportunity was lost.

Many farms have become unprofitable within the changing economies of Europe. What has happened to the house symbolises many of the wider processes that are happening to farming families in the area.

The Sproxton Award helped Betsie to produce a self-published book called Farm. It was printed in Belgium and is distributed by Schaden Germany. The Sproxton Award went directly towards the expenses of printing the book. Farm was also produced as an exhibition at the Naarden Photofestival, the Netherlands.

Betsie van der Meer works commercially for Getty Images and Corbis as well as for advertising. The latest campaigns are for T-mobile, Germany and for Habitat Great Britain. An example of her latest work can be seen in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 08 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.