Betsie Van Der Meer

Betsie grew up on a farm in the south west of the Netherlands. She spent most of her childhood on the farm, leaving when she was about seventeen. She went back to photograph her memories of growing up there.

Whilst photographing she learned that the family had to demolish the house, and this gave her a sense of urgency: she wanted to have a record of the space before the opportunity was lost.

Many farms have become unprofitable within the changing economies of Europe. What happened to the house symbolised many of the wider processes that happened to farming families in the area.

The award helped Betsie to produce a self-published book called Farm that was printed in Belgium and distributed by Schaden Germany. Farm was also produced as an exhibition at the Naarden Photofestival in the Netherlands.