QUOTE: Metaphors of understanding company photo books

Grens/ Border (1993) is a notable volume within this series. Artist Betsy Green makes a primitive camera obscura of atmospheric images of numbered border posts in Limburg. The southern province has tangles of border markers that appear everywhere in the (urban) landscape. These are black-and-white photographs that have been given a color tone according to an almost alchemical antique process. This enhances the picturesque quality of the photographic works. The starting point for Green was being on the road; truly crossing borders and traveling more spiritually in the sense of an exploration of the untraceable. Writer Jeroen Berkhout made a parallel journey. In words, he explored the enigmatic nature of his own inner boundaries. The idea for this overall concept was linked to European unification. The first steps were taken during the European Summit in Maastricht in 1991. The fact that each cover of this book is silkscreen-printed by hand makes each copy of Grens/Border an objet d'art.

Mirelle Thijsen. article, Het Financiele Dagblad, 10 and 12 june 1995, page 13.

Copyright Betsy Green 2025