Ella Reitsma.Snoep
Tell my story, please, and I will live forever
In the Bakery, Annet Gelink Gallery
proudly presents the first solo exhibition
of journalist, art historian and photographer Ella Reitsma.Snoep. Based on
her 2012 publication ‘Duizend en meer
verhalen op sterk water’ (A thousand
and more stories in formaldehyde),
Reitsma.Snoep presents viewers with
striking photographs of specimens,
part of the collection of the former Zoological Museum Amsterdam (ZMA).
The dream of German-Dutch zoologist
Max Weber (1852-1937), the ZMA
was conceptualized as a‘show museum’displaying countless specimens found during expeditions to far-off, exotic places. However, the museum never fully functioned as a true museum and over time, due to budgetary and
space constrictions, the museum lost ground bit by bit. Eventually, in 2011 the ZMA closed
and its collection moved and was added to that of to the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden.
It is here that Reitsma.Snoep becomes part of the narrative. Reitsma.Snoep made her career as the art editor
for Dutch magazine ‘Vrij Nederland’, amongst other things, yet ultimately considers herself a storyteller. She
turned to photography, to document and tell the story of the ZMA collection before it was shipped off to Leiden.
The intriguing images she created, ask questions about the nature of life, but also about the possibilities of
the medium of photography.
By making visible and committing to photographs that which no longer exists,
Tell my story, please, and I will live forever
forms a compelling testament to the duplicity of photography.
The stark yet sumptuous photographs leave their interpretation up to the viewer. Moreover, Ella Reitsma.Snoep’s photographs give Weber’s fragile dream the ability to live on, a sentiment doubled
and reflected in the wish to capture the beauty of life and nature through the stillness of taxidermy.