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Betsie van der Meer is
an award winning photographer working in the UK. She grew up on a farm
in the south west of the Netherlands. She hadn't visited the farm for
a long while and went back recently to photograph her memories of growing
up there. Whilst photographing she learned that her family had to demolish
the house and this gave her a sense of urgency, she wanted to record
the space before the opportunity was completely lost.

Many farms have become unprofitable within the changing economies of Europe and, more specifically, the way in which land use has been reconstituted in the Netherlands. What has happened to the house symbolises many of the wider processes that are happening to farming families in the area.

The book "Farm" is available in bookshops and at www.schaden.com

Tiengemeten is a small island situated in the south of the Netherlands. It was, until recently, predominantly occupied by seven farming families. In 1994 the Dutch Society for the Preservation of Nature bought the island in order to convert Tiengemeten into a nature reserve. The farmers had to leave their homes and land. The farms are now unoccupied and rapidly falling into ruin.

Agent: Jo Talbot/Sue Young
+ 44 (0)20 7262 0189