“I shoot whatever breaths a story.
Mother nature on her best.
Human beauty at it’s purest.
In a world full of illusions,
I seek for the essence.
I look for authenticity.
I look for soul.”
Anne Sarah, born in a city while growning up in the muddy soil of the country side, already learned about contrasts at a young age. Confronted with a lot of change the move generated, she noticed the difference between people and places. Exactly this gave her all the input to seek for the authentic and lightened her free soul. Anne Sarah traveled the world with open eyes, an ever growing awareness and of-course her beloved Canon. After finishing her study Fashion and Branding at AMFI Amsterdam, she knew she wanted more. “I feel the desire to show the world the world. Something that is untangible and connecting us all. A little reminder of our nature. Things that otherwise will be forgotten.”
“Sure, we all need to ‘survive’, but there is always space for more than what we think we know. I love stepping out of my comfort zone and getting myself into crazy situations, just to have different impulses and to feel the excitement of the unknown. This is where traveling hits me, but in Amsterdam I do it on smaller levels. Sometimes it is nice to give, to ‘serve’ and make this place, we call earth, more beautiful. Telling stories to create more awareness or making statements to open people’s eyes. It can be refreshing to work on a base of intentions, instead of money. Right now, we are sitting on a couch which I ‘paid’ by shooting pictures of it. To me life is just a playfull experiment and sometimes that seems to be forgetten it in the seriousness of daily routines. I hope that not only my work, but also the way I work will be a little reminder for those around me.”
MONGOLIA 2017 / This is a serie of my journey trough Mongolia. Every story tells how the indigenous (eagle hunters, Lama\’s) reclaimed their culture after communism, by cultural practice and devotion. / 1) Full of excitement I arrived at the eagle festival in Ollgi (Mongolia). Today the sport, ancient eagle hunting, that lives for thousands of years (c. 2500 BC) is populair by those who are keen to reclaim a cultural identity that was long-suppressed under seventy years of communism. An event mostly represented by masculine men who traveled from far to win prices at the competition. The fastest and most brave team (eagle and their hunter) will win. Some of them face the cold and mostly stormy weather for 300 km, by their horse. Here waiting for the winners to be announced.
This young Mongolian girl, stepped out of her comfort zone. Attending a competition like this to represent her culture by taking part in a originally masculine event. Bringing worlds together by breaking taboos and believe systems, because of her presence.
After a ride for 6 hours we saw these mountains and this little temple. A woman was busy cleaning the outside. We entered her space and she opened the door of this temple. The inside and her story surprised me.
I made some questions with my Mongolian translator before travelling alone. This way I was able to ask intriguing people about life, without speaking their language. She wrote me back and later I translated her own words. Her answer to my questions: / Can you share a brief example of you and your life? She wrote: “In 1992 my mother Kandmaa restored this temple. This temple was build in the 17th century. One of the first yellow seat buddhist temples. It’s my life mission to protect and look after this temple. In 1937, during the communist attack, I lost my grandfather who was a Lama. Today my son is the head lama of this temple. / How do you see the world in 50 years? She wrote: “The population will grow extremely, nature will be more destroyed, our situation will be more intense.” / What do you want to pass on? She wrote: “I wish to my younger generation to become a right person, good behave and reach enlightenment. I am a buddhist, so I believe if you do good in this life, your next life will be better.”
This was a place where 1500 monks used to live, spread out over 500 temples. In the 30\’s, during the communism in Mongolia, the soldiers destroyed 497 of them. Except for these tree. The story goes that the attackers became sick, blind or suddenly died while attacking this temple. They say that the power of the spirits made this temple survive.
After the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, the monastery turned into a place of worship again. Not only for the Lamas, but for people from all cultures and backgrounds. Wonderful to see and feel that nowadays everybody is welcome. The way the Lamas and visitors are honouring the temples in unity, heals the time of suppression day by day.
