Polderbloem

If I squeeze my eyes close enough, the waves turn into a pink sea
rolling into the shore, row after row
The tourists become little crawling ants
And their camera flashes are warming sunbeams peeking through the clouds

My hometown Egmond is located in the heart of the tulip fields in the Netherlands. Each season I could see the changing colours of the fields through our window and with it, the business of my neighbour. They ended their family business last year and started to break down the bulb shed I had been looking at throughout my life. As the walls collapsed, the inside slowly started to unravel, which became the starting point for my project.

Polderbloem is a photographic investigation into each stage of the tulip cycle in The Netherlands. Through new imagery and found footage, I shed light onthis transformation that has occurred over time. From its status as a wealth symbol in the 1600s to its current state as a mass product, from a bulb worth the value of an Amsterdam canal house, to something that is now widely available. I realise that it has become an empty industry, where the symbol of the flower no longer plays a role, where the future of the tulip cannot be guaranteed. But what remains when there is no actual presence of the flower?

Mayte Breed