Artist Statement

"Very often I end up in places where something odd is going on or odd situations seem to happen. I like the idea of the surprise in the common and everyday life; it gives a different perspective on things.

“One December evening I was driving past some sort of a botanic garden and the smoke in the air caught my interest. I stopped the car, grabbed my camera, entered the garden and people were running around for no particular reason. I didn't ask myself why but I was just triggered by the slightly bizarre feel of it all and started running around as well...with my camera." Martijn Peters

Artist Bio

Martijn Peters (b. The Netherlands, 1976) is an internationally recognised artist based in the Hague. He describes his photographs as both ‘depictions of extraordinary moments or moments that hardly seem to take place.’ Coincidence, intuition and spontaneity are key to his practice. ‘I let myself be taken by surprise’, he writes. ‘I try to catch 'uncommon' moments out of everyday life, without affecting or influencing them.’ His photographs often have the misleading air of being staged because, he says, ‘again and again it turns out that a lot of 'unreality' is happening in reality.’

Peters has participated in several national and international exhibitions such as 'Fotonoviembre 2009' in Spain and at the 'Photobiennale 2010' organized by the Greek Museum of Photography in Thessaloniki. He also published a commissioned photo-book titled 'Land in Verandering' and was selected for the 'Noorderpark Artproject' in Amsterdam. He is currently exploring the possibilities of video.  

For further information please see www.martijnpeters.nl/