“I realized that the magical thinking I had grown up with isn’t at all commonplace in the Netherlands.”
This week, Esther Didden is in Amsterdam at Kevin Osepa’s studio. He was born in Curaçao and moved to the Netherlands to study photography at the Utrecht School of the Arts. That was a turning point; he found that there was more freedom in the Netherlands. His perspective on where he comes from has changed over the years; distance makes things more beautiful, but the pain is still there. Another turning point was his transition from photography to film. The stories he wants to tell are better served cinematographically. Curaçaoan culture plays an important role in his work. That’s why he wants to bring those stories back to Curaçao, show them there, and spark a conversation.
“The tension between life on Curaçao and life in the Netherlands remains a part of my work to this day.”
English 
Dutch