Title: Cityscapes + Birdmen

Photographer/s: Jacquie Maria Wessels

Contributor/s: Introduction Michiel van Kempen

Date of publication: 1-10-2010

Place of publication: Antwerp Belgium

Dimensions: 22cm x 24cm x 2,5cm

Edition size: 1000

Type of binding: Finishing: bookblock with sewn spine, endpapers glued on, coverpapier mat laminated, whole paper hardcover made of 2 mm. gray board with rounded spine, boekblock overglued with crepe, glued on headbands, 2 reading ribbons and bookblock glued in.

Number of pages: 204 inside pages with glued on endpapers in whole paper hardcover band.

Type of paper: Coverpaper:150 grs. woodfree gloss machinecoated, Endpapers:120 grs. structured textpaper, Photo pages:170 grs. woodfree mat bulky machinecoated, Text pages:120 grs. structured textpaper.

Number of pictures: 161 full colour photo’s

Type of printing: Coverpaper: 4/0 litho.(offsetprinting), Endpapers: 1/1 PMS.(offsetprinting), Photo pages: 4/4 litho.(offsetprinting)/, Text pages: 1/1 PMS.(offsetprinting).

Printer: Drukkerij Slinger, Alkmaar, The Netherlands

Publisher: Voetnoot-Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Designer: Barends & Pijnappel, Antwerp, Belgium

Editor: Jacquie Maria Wessels, Henrik Barends

Language: English/Dutch

ISBN: 978-90-78068-662

Category: Photo-Book

Price: 29 euro

Summary: Cityscapes + Birdmen / Jacquie Maria Wessels
Between 2006 and 2009 JACQUIE MARIA WESSELS made portraits, in Suriname and The Netherlands, of many macho Surinamese men who were obsessed with their little songbirds. The ‘caged bird’ is the leading actor in songbird contests. In this ‘most popular sport in Suriname’ men from all segments of the population come together amiably, in peaceful combat over which bird sings the best and who wins first prize. After the independence of Suriname in 1975 this pastime came to The Netherlands along with the Surinamers. Both in Suriname and The Netherlands the contest are held very early on Sunday mornings: in Paramaribo on independence Square, over to the Suriname River, and in The Netherlands on lawns in parks, especially designated for this, in Amsterdam, The Hague and other cities. Stereotypical male attributes such as clothing, cars and motorcycles play an important role in this lifestyle too, but in photographs by Jacquie Maria Wessels the men reveal another side of themselves. In Paramaribo Jacquie Maria Wessels also photographed city scenes, dominated by the typically Surinamese wall paintings: hand-painted advertisements containing hyper-realistic depictions of tools, soup cans, oatmeal, hot dogs and other products, along with exhortations like ‘Do your best in school’….
Cityscapes + Birdmen includes a selection of 160 photos in full color, taken from both of these projects. Suriname expert MICHIEL VAN KEMPEN provides a very personal account of his Sunday morning trip to see `the men with their birdcages’ on Independence Square in Paramaribo, and in passing offers a fascinating impression of Suriname’s booming capital.
Photography: Jacquie Maria Wessels www.jacquiemariawessels.nl
Text [N/E]: Michiel van Kempen http://be.linkedin.com/in/michielvankempen
Bounded/Hardcover/22 x 24 x 2,5 cm Two different covers (see below)
204 pages/ ca. 160 images in full colour Paper: Chinese paper with birds/Arctic Highwhite 170 grs
Published in 2010 by Voetnoot Publishers www.voetnoot-publishers.nl
Internationally by Idea Books www.ideabooks.nl ISBN 978-90-78068-662 Price € 29

Date and place of birth of photographer/s: 21-9-1959

Website: http://www.jacquiemariawessels.nl

Book link: http://jacquiemariawessels.nl/Cityscapes_and_Birdmen.html

Donated by: Jacquie Maria Wessels

iPL Notes: Received at the New York Photo Festival 2011.