Elizabeth Koetje

I was born and raised in South Africa and am currently living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After completing a BA (Hons) Drama (Cum Laude), I spent ten years in theatre writing plays, directing and performing. This, strangely enough, led the way to photography. As a performer one is always thinking of the finest nuances to bring your character to life and when directing one thinks of the play as a whole - thus my thinking was both microscopic and telescopic. After completing my diploma in photography I ran a studio in Johannesburg and had wonderful opportunities creating portraits and portfolios for people from all walks of life. I draw inspiration from many great artists - but more specifically from Caravaggio for his use of light, Magritte for his magic realism and Chagall for his extraordinary understanding of colour. Having written both for theatre and television, I’ve always been developing themes and storyboards - only now I do it with a camera. Like so many photographers of my generation, I studied my craft using film and when the first digital camera was introduced, I was petrified to make the leap from analogue to digital. Today I feel fortunate to be living in an age where the technological advances offer me a large array of tools to bring my artistry to life. Francis Ford Coppola once said; “Art only exists because of technology. What’s the first art in human history? Cave drawings. What’s the technology? Fire. They couldn’t do that without fire and the burnt stick. There is no art without technology. Art and technology are symbiotic.” He then goes on to ask why Goethe didn’t make movies as he was a poet, a dramatist, ran a theatre company, knew about acting? “He should have been the first filmaker. Why wasn’t he? Because the technology didn’t exist.” Since that first leap, I've come to understand and embrace that technology is not just a means, it’s a part of art.