INSIDE OUT
Exhibition at The Center of Photography, Ciudad de México, 2023.
Through his photographs, Bob honors different cultures, people, nature and the transformation of the environment Inside Out is an exhibition featuring 207 photographs representing the vision of a photographer with 65 years of experience, who at the age of 90 continues to adapt to new technologies, exploring photography with curiosity and passion. His photographs are profoundly respectful, focusing on positive aspects, which places him as a humanist photographer although his sharp eye also encompasses architectural forms and abstracts in shapes and textures.
A STORY IN A BOX
Exhibition project, 2023
This exhibition presents photographs from Bob Schalkwijk's first fifteen years in Mexico: 1958-1973, a period during which he dedicated his energy in traveling the country and capturing the cultural diversity of a territory so different from his country of origin. The exhibition showcases a selection of photographs from his early journeys, which reflect the perspective of a young Dutchman who, with fascination, discovered the many cultures of this nation, its people, places, and ancestral traditions that have endured the test of time. The majority of the images are on exhibit for the first time. The museography aims to immerse visitors in the archive itself, Inviting the viewer to discover the photographer's perspective and learn about the itinerary of his trips through 275 postcard sized photographs organized in 24 stories placed in specially designed archive boxes that visitors can explore manually. In addition, the space showcases 10 framed 11" x 14" photographs and a photo-mural of Bob's studio mounted on a wall. This digital presentation shows one Mexico City story example. Photographs of the look and feel of the exhibition inthe museum "Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo" in Mexico City, and the photo-mural of Bob's studio in Coyoacán.
SMILES, TREATS AND WATER FIGHTS
Exhibition. 2022. Galería Juventud Heroica, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico.
My fascination with Chapultepec began in 1959, when I decided to settle in Mexico City and to become a professional photographer. One has to “learn to see” in order to communicate through images and México surprised me with its colors, the warmth of its people, the diversity of its cultures and its impressive history.
It gives me great pleasure to share my photographs in this exhibition: Smiles, Candy and Water Fights along the Avenida Juventud Heroica, dedicated to children and adolescents.
A SUNDAY OUTING IN CHAPULTEPEC
Exhibition. 2022. Galería Acuario, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico.
It gives me great pleasure to share my photographs in this exhibition, A Sunday Outing in Chapultepec, a journey in time, at the Galería Acuario on the Avenida Paseo de la Reforma.
My photographs are for you, the visitors to this great park, unlike any other in the world; my hope is that if any of you recognize yourself, you will let me know through my social media. It makes me happy to know that my photos can reach the people and families I photographed.
TARAHUMARA
1965-2015
The great contrasts of the Sierra Tarahumara are worthy of admiration: the great plains—huge extensions of planted fields—are the threshold to the region, where development and productive abundance on the part of agribusiness can be observed. Later we draw ever closer to the gigantic folds of the mountain range. Bob loves the sierra landscapes and through this book we will appreciate and fall in love with them, too. His camp in the middle of the forest, the figures that the water leaves behind, the wind on the area’s porous stones. His count- less portraits of people not impressed by the camera.
PHOTOGRAPHY OF ART
Bob developed a successful career in Photography of Art. For many years his studio worked in professional photography services such as publicity and fashion; but he got well known photographing art, which in 1994 got him the job to photograph Frida Kahlo's diary, published for the first time in 1995.
Bob worked for private and public Institutions such as Museo de Arte Moderno, Museo Anahuacalli (by Diego Rivera), Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Fundación Carlos Monsiváis; as well as many private art collectors and artists themselves like Helen Escobedo, Feliciano Bejar, Palle Seiersen, Francisco Toledo, and others.
THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1985
The morning of 19th of September of 1985, the earthquake that shook the Mexican capital, took Bob by surprise in his house.
- It was an enormous shock - he recalls.- I saw the wall in front of me moving like a snake, and then, the sound of the sirens and all of that...
He took his bicycle, and along with his lifetime assistant, Javier Tinoco, headed downtown to capture this terrible event: the fallen buildings, the rescuers, the frightened population, the harmed people arriving to the squares and yards of the main hospitals. Bob not only covered what happened that day, but the days that followed: the reconstruction of the everyday life. The earthquake of 1985 would leave a mark in the history of Mexico City.
THE NETHERLANDS
1965-2017
"I took these photographs for more than half a century, during trips visiting my family in the Netherlands.
"While reviewing these photographs, I encountered the gaze of an ex - pat, a Dutchman fascinated by another country, who chose to leave his homeland to settle in Mexico where I had been living since 1959.
"The photographs give an account of the complex feelings I experience when returning to my country: nostalgia, identification, admiration and a lot of surprises. Photographing both the novel and the permanent, allowed me to experience my country as a Dutchman, but with a different point of view.
" It has been said, that in contrast to Mexico, the Netherlands is not a big country. But with 325 km. from North to South, and 220 km. from East to West, I now realize that it is such a vast territory that I shall not be able to cover it all. Not because of my age (I am about to turn 84), but because I see it as an enormous archive of civilizations."
Bob Schalkwijk
BOB AROUND THE WORLD
47 Countries, 1953-2014
Bob is a constant traveller. Once he left his hometown, back in 1958, he started travelling around the world, for work and for fun. Some of his first shots were taken on a trip to Spain, France and Portugal, in 1953. He has visited 47 countries, of course apart from the Netherlands and Mexico. He has witnessed the diversity in the landscape, the wildlife, the different cultures and its peoples. This gallery is just an example of Schalkwijk's great "COUNTRIES" catalog, that contains around 15,000 photographs.
QF, INSTALACIÓN FOTOGRÁFICA
Exhibition. 2014. National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico.
"Quetzalcóatl Fotográfico is a versatile, three dimensional piece that can be assembled in myriad ways, seem from distinct angles, and that can generate a range of interpretation and experiences that question ideas of identity in every viewer. It's structure, representing the mobile and mutable body of a serpent is covered in 322 photographic prints that make a collage/snake skin of many Mexicos. "
Adriaan Schalkwijk
The project was a collaboration between photographers Alfredo Martínez, Bob Schalkwijk, Pim Schalkwijk, and industrial designer Adriaan Schalkwijk.