Artist Statement:
Forever - what an amazing concept! Imagine, buildings being judged so significant that steps should be taken to ensure that they last forever. When was this notion first contemplated? That question is impossible to answer. The first entries on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List appeared in 1978, but surely the notion of preserving examples of architectural and cultural heritage is much older than that.

On the island of Curaçao, this idea of preservation in perpetuity came to fruition in 1997 when its capital city of Willemstad was placed on the UNESCO list. Today, 765 monuments in Willemstad, mostly historic mansions, commercial buildings and townhomes, have been designated for protection and preservation. Owners, renters, neighbours and the workers who carefully maintain and restore these buildings readily engage passersby in conversations that reveal the immense pride the people of Curaçao have in this heritage.

The photographs in this collection pay homage to these historical monuments and to the concept of forever. The final prints are actually composites, where images of clouds have been superimposed onto the images of the buildings. I chose this approach because during my stay in Curaçao clouds were always present and it was impossible to view the buildings against a cloudless sky. When it is considered that clouds existed above the island long before the buildings came into being and will exist at least as long as the buildings, it seems a fitting pairing. In that sense, both the buildings and the clouds have been entrusted to the care of the people of Curaçao - forever.

This series of photographs was taken in 2014.
Images from the series (click to view): Forever - in Trust #1, Forever - in Trust #2, Forever - in Trust #3.
There are other images in this series that are not on this website. If you are interested in more information about them, please leave a message below or email me.