The series ‘The Day after Valentine’ is made in China. I stayed in the southern Chinese city Xiamen in Fujian Province and traveled to the countryside of Guanxhi Province.

The Day after Valentine, Fujian Province, 2005
Six Chinese women seem to be sailing away on a classical Chinese roof. In a Chinese legend, seven girls descend every year for one day from heaven to earth on the head of an ox, on Valentine’s Day. One of the girls falls in love with a farmer and decides to stay on earth.

Horse Hair, Fujian Province 2005
A woman dressed in white drapes her long black hair along the white hair of the horse’s mane. When in mourning, white clothes are worn in traditional China.

Nets, Xiamen, Fujian Province, 2005
In front of a huge building site and its scaffolding nets fishermen are carrying their green fishing nets. The city of Xiamen is expanding fast, also is its boulevards and beaches. The fishermen have to find other places to fish.

My Bonnie, Guanxhi Province, 2005
A giant pizza with a diameter of 1,2 meter is floating in the Li River towards the Yanghuo Mountains. The offer is an homage to my father, who died after eating pizza. My father used to call me 'Bonnie', often singing ‘My Bonnie is over the ocean, my Bonnie is over the sea.’

Dwelling, Fujian Province, 2005
Girls covered by black hair holding ceramic models of the roofs of the temples of the porcelain city of Dehua.

Hair Boat, Guanxhi Province, 2006
Long-haired women of the Miao tribe in the southern Chinese mountains, dressing a frame with their own hair. The women cut their hair only three times in their life, and then carry it with them on their heads.

Red Masmo, Guanxhi Province, 2006
A Chinese farmer holding rubber boats in his rice field. This inflated red warrior looks lost in the green scenery of the Yangshuo Mountains.


Analogue C-prints
120 x 150 cm (edition 4)
100 x 125 cm (edition 3)