Joost van der Velden meets Sjeng Braken Photos

At the Princenhaags museum, in the last quarter of this year, there will be works on display by the young photographer Joost van der Velden and the now 91-year-old Sjeng Braken.

Sjeng Braken previously had an exhibition at the Princenhaags museum. At that time, it was primarily his paintings depicting his youth in Limburg. Sjeng was born in 1933 into a large family with 12 children in Reijmerstok, Limburg. He grew up with little love from his parents and became increasingly frustrated over time by the attitude his parents, as devout Catholics, had towards the outside world. He still speaks with much suppressed anger about his mother. As a child, he was abused, and as soon as he could, he left his parental home. Sjeng joined the military in Breda and stayed there for the rest of his life. He worked at the KMA, trained at the St. Joost art academy in Breda, and there he met his wife Toos. They would eventually spend many years together there. Sjeng is a talented photographer and has won many awards for his work. We have asked Joost van der Velden to curate an exhibition featuring photos of Sjeng and his own work.

Joost is a 25-year-old photographer and creator from Made, near Breda. He has a great love for minimalism and the beauty of all the little things in life. Compared to Sjeng, Joost is still at the beginning of his life as a photographer. Nevertheless, he has been actively engaged for several years. The work Joost presents is often created in an almost serene atmosphere. In a more spiritual sense, serene is a state of mind in which you are mentally calm or peaceful. His work seeks tranquility. During his studies, Joost noticed that the world is changing; it is becoming busier, more hectic, noisier, everything is increasing. Yet, people are seeing less and less. With that notion, Joost goes to work. He tries to capture life by seeing the unseen. As a museum, we are particularly focused on approaching young artists and giving them a platform in our beautiful exhibition space. After our young artists in August (Jelle and Bodil Havermans), it is now Joost van der Velden's turn. You can now get to know his beautiful work.