Robin de Puy (b. 1986) has lived for several years in Wormer, a small village just to the north of Amsterdam. She is fascinated by the American countryside, and during the recent lockdown discovered that her new environment proves to be very universal, with the same sort of local small-town icons that she has often encountered during her travels through the rural landscapes of America. Because the village is so close to Amsterdam, it is home to a very diverse mix of people. There are residents who have lived here for generations, but also refugees or urbanites who cannot find the space they need in Amsterdam.
In addition Wormer, like the rest of the Zaanstreek region in which it sits, is surrounded by water. There are farmers who get their cattle to the grazing fields by boat, teenagers who have contests on the water on their flat-bottomed craft, and long but friendly queues for the constantly open bridges, where everyone has something to say. In Robin de Puy's imagination, Wormer has all the hallmarks of a small American village, making it all the more fascinating.
Text in English and Dutch.
AUTHOR: Robin de Puy is a photographer for award-winning publications such as If This Is True (Ludion) and Randy (Hannibal Books). She also works for de Volkskrant newspaper, ELLE and New York Magazine. Her work has previously been exhibited in the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, Fotomuseum Den Haag in The Hague and Photoville Festival Brooklyn.
