Cecilia Drury and Axl (Anadyomene) Francisca win Rijksmuseum photography competition
Publication date: 26 September 2024 - 07:26
The winners of the annual Document Netherlands Junior photography competition were announced today. They are Cecilia Drury from Europese School Bergen, and Axl (Anadyomene) Francisca from Instituto Bueno Bista, Willemstad, Curacao. Of all the 90-plus entrants to the competition they were judged to have captured the Festival Feeling theme in the best way. Both their series, along with the series by the other finalists, are going on display in the Rijksmuseum photography gallery.
Cecilia Drury – Europese School Bergen – Winner, Secondary School category
Sixteen-year-old Cecilia Drury photographed the Procesión de Las Mantillas in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria. On Good Friday each year, women dressed in black costumes and the typical Canaria white mantilla (shawl) walk a route around the Santa Ana cathedral carrying figures of the Holy Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows. Cecilia was selected as the winner for the originality of her perspective and the aesthetic qualities of her series.
A festival comes in many forms. Though many people imagine colours, lights and music when they think of festivals, a festival is essentially a celebration of life, in one way or another. For example, the Mantilla procession in Gran Canaria is a celebration of the life of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, a worshipful procession of woman and girls in elegant white shawls. This, too, could be called a festival.
Cecilia
Axl (Anadyomene) Francisca – Instituto Bueno Bista, Willemstad, Curacao – Winner, Vocational College category
Eighteen-year-old Ayxl (Anadyomene) Francisca studies at the Instituto Bueno Bista in Willemstad, Curacao. The subject running through Axl’s series is a bar where the island’s small LGBTIQ+ community can gather and celebrate. Axl was declared the winner for his outstanding and personal reflections on the festival theme, his eager mindset at the masterclasses, and his exciting way in which he captured his subject photographically.
A festival is a celebration, whether it’s an organised event or on a special day. For young queer teens in Curacao, the festival is at a small gay bar in downtown Willemstad. Despite the limited size of the LGBTIQ+ community on the island, they celebrate their lives in their own space.
Axl
Document Netherlands
Document Netherlands Junior is the youth edition of Document Netherlands, the annual commission through which the Rijksmuseum invites a photographer to capture a topical social theme. For this year’s edition Eddo Hartmann photographed festivals. Vast numbers of people visit festivals in the Netherlands, and Hartmann focused on individual festivalgoers among the crowds, absorbed by or lost in the backdrop of the Dutch events industry. The exhibition runs from 27 September 2024 to 12 January 2025 in the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery.
Background to the exhibition
In spring this year the jury selected 9 talented photographers from the 90-plus submissions. These young talents took part in two masterclasses given by Eddo Hartmann and the Rijksmuseum. Their series of photographs will be on display in the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery from 27 September 2024 to 12 January 2025.
The 2024 Document Netherlands Junior finalists are:
Secondary education category
- Cecilia Drury, Europese School Bergen, NH
- Lisa Senders, Vespucci College, Willemstad, Curacao
- Renée Spaan, School for Young Talent, The Hague
- Sophia van der Toorn Vrijthoff, School for Young Talent, The Hagueg
- Eloise Wapstra, Insula College, Dordrecht
Vocational college (MBO) category
- Jane Castillo, Instituto Bueno Bista, Willemstad, Curacao
- Axl (Anadyomene) Francisca, Instituto Bueno Bista, Willemstad, Curacao
- Shurandy Gerard, Frater Aurelio, Willemstad, Curacao
- Jordy de Haas, Koning Willem I College, Den Bosch
The jury members for this year’s Document Netherlands Junior competition were Eddo Hartmann, the photographer for Document Netherlands 2024; Mattie Boom, curator of photography at the Rijksmuseum; Fredrik Pesch, graphic designer at Irma Boom Office; Denise Woerdman, owner of Fotolab Kiekie; Bregje Pontzen, in-house photographer at Scholieren.com; Merel Brugman, photographer and vocational college (MBO) student educator at the Rijksmuseum; and Oscar Baltodano Garcia, Vocational College category winner of Document Netherlands Junior 2023.
*Document Nederland is made possible in part by Rijksmuseum NEXT, and through the Rijksmuseum Fonds: Floor Fonds, Familie Van Ogtrop Fonds and Bestuursfonds Hollandse Meesters.*
