While Emmy’s World seemingly could have been anywhere, it actually started from rather unusual circumstances. Having achieved international acclaim for her previous series Natural Red Hair (2005–2008), Dutch photographer Hanne van der Woude happened to meet an interesting elderly graphic artist named Ben Joosten and asked to take his portrait. Then when she went to his house, an old school building in Betuwe, east Netherlands, she met his wife of fifty years, painter Emmy Eerdmans. Intrigued by the old couple, van der Woude spent six years photographing them at home and on visits to Ben’s brother Egbert in the south of France, always in beautiful natural surroundings.
　
Among these rather eccentric faces, undoubtedly Emmy was the most fiercely individualist. Although in her 80s, she worked constantly all day long, tended her pet guinea hen Clara and avidly collected all kinds of things. When Ben fell ill, she nursed him, recorded his condition in detail in order to inform local health authorities, painted his portrait and took his picture—all of which van der Woude documented as part of her work until finally Emmy’s world was changed forever when both Egbert and her beloved husband Ben passed away.
　
This somewhat offbeat work is the result of a long-term collaboration between an ever-creative elderly artist couple and a young photographer. More than anything, it stands as testament to the universal themes of friendship across generations and abiding marital love.

Having previously been shown at Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam (2015) and Fotographie Forum Frankfurt (2016), we now proudly welcome the work to Kyoto.