Roel0

Pleased to meet you, my name is Roel Burgler, born 1947, in the Netherlands Antilles. After finishing my studies in political and social sciences, aquiring a Phd, and a few years teaching at university I chose to pursue a career as freelance photographer/ jourrnalist, specialising in social documentary photography on  developing countries (see f.i. [url removed]) [link removed]. Although self taught as photographer I did follow various specific courses.

As a counterbalance to my documentary work I do autonomous photography. Nearly all my fine art work falls under my bodyscapes project. Taking the nude as starting point I try to research what is photographically possible, with relatively simple means. This project has yielded everything from aesthetic, pure and simple pictures, to deeply traumatic psychological expressions, from the comical to the abstract, and to kosmic, aquatic and  landscapes.

My aim, with my autonomous art, is to inspire the viewers to decide for themselves what it is all about. It's their associations and feelings regarding my art that are important. Get away from the viewer as a passive consumer, hand back to the viewer the responsibility for deciding the meaning and impact. The less a viewer knows about the work, the more the viewer will have to rely on his or her own feelings, associations and emotions. I would like to make the viewer an active and conscious participant, instead of a passive consumer. 

As is to be expected with such a protracted project (nearly 40 years now) I have followed many side-paths, some of which have led to interesting and creative results. I have experimented with more complex approaches (some of the results can be seen here), but I have come to the conclusion that the picture I take should practically allready be the end result. But I am constantly searching for new ways to express my ideas. What doesn't change is using a camera and a female nude.

With my autonomous work I have had a number of exibitions, group and solo, and participated in a number of art fairs.

A special note for potential models; I find it essential to create a situation in which both model and I feel comfortable in each other's presence.

For an idea of my autonomous work: http://[url removed] , https://[url removed] [link removed]

For my documentary work: [url removed] [link removed]