To Sang fotostudio Lee To Sang Erik Kessels THE CONTEMPORARY DUTCH PHOTO BOOK Photography

To Sang fotostudio
Jaffe Vink / Lee To Sang
ISBN 10: 9075574029 / ISBN 13: 9789075574029
Published by Stichting Uitgeverij Basalt, 1997
Lee To Sang (Hong Kong 1939) moved to Paramaribo in 1964 where he opened his first photo studio. In 1979 he moved with his family to Amsterdam where he opened his second photo studio in the Albert Cuypstraat named To Sang Fotostudio. Apart from the local Dutch people, his clients included the many immigrants of that neighbourhood – Surinamesi, Pakistani, Chinese, Maroccan, Turkish and Kurdish. Willem van Zoetendaal who discovered his studio at the beginning of the nineties asked many students of the Rietveld Academy to have their ‘first’ studio experience as being a model. ‘I don’t usually ask clients what they do, so sometimes it doesn’t happen until later that they were famous. I ‘ve photographed some mayors of Amsterdam, Martin Parr and many other artists and photographers.’ Lee To Sang became known by the the book published by Basalt (1995) and various exhibitions. And in 1997 through Johan van der Keuken’s documentairy film To Sang Fotostudio.

ERIK KESSELS - THE CONTEMPORARY DUTCH PHOTO BOOK
Curator: Erik Kessels

The exhibition presents over 50 contemporary dutch photobooks with curator’s introduction. Netherlands is one of the most important countries in the history of printing. It’s also a country with reach tradition of conceptual and documental photography. The current publishing boom comes from this tradition and it’s based on unique close collaboration between photographers, printers and designers. The exhibition aims to show the different trends and solutions that are characteristic for dutch photobooks. At the same time it’s an subjective choice of the curator who is also an artist working mainly with found photography.