The Great War With his series The Great War Paul Koeleman makes his most extensive use of found photography yet. Several years ago he bought the portraits that form the starting point for this series in an antique shop in Hudson, NY. According to the seller, they came from the estate of a medical doctor who used the photos to document the recovery process of one of his patients but guarantee their pedigree the seller could not. And although the photos are clearly dated -‘1917’ or ‘21st May 1919‘- they do not show any injuries or startling deformations. “In the photos themselves war as such is not visible, it is almost an academic study of the torso,” says Koeleman. But injuries can also be psychological in nature. It is Koelemans manipulation of the photos by means of Photoshop, applications and layering which can be read as the externalization of the possible causes of the psychological traumas that a war like The Great War can cause: from the trenches, hidden injuries, shell shock and the fear of being buried alive, to pain and impotence, all caught within a fixed frame. In the work of Paul Koeleman frames and layering are important themes. They find expression in the spatial aspects of work and in the search for depth in the two dimensions of photography as well as in the expression of the emotional life behind the mask of human skin.

Uitgaande van mijn centrale onderzoeksvraag "Is your body the pedestal of your head", maakte fotograaf Paul Koeleman een 20-delige fotoserie, waarin ik zelf als drager van mijn maskers optreedt. Ik ben gefascineerd door maskerades in verschillende culturen over de hele wereld – het masker brengt de mens terug bij zijn instinct. Met de maskers onderzoek ik de relatie tussen het lichaam en het hoofd, het fysieke en het mentale. Kun je denken met je lichaam? Carmen Schabracq

Exhibition "Running into people's consciousness" at Galerie Metis, Amsterdam.

Winner Pride Photo Award, 2^nd price 2011. Winner Publieksprijs Pride Photo Award 2011 and 2012.

Anonymous Amsterdammers. Most people walk the streets wearing an imaginary mask. A kind of screen behind which they can hide their inner selves. Paul Koeleman emphasizes this phenomenon by applying white facemasks to well-known and not so well-known Amsterdam locals. At first this feels strange but also familiar. He then asks his subjects to break the clay using various facial expressions. The hardened clay cracks and breaks away. Surprise or anxiety, joy, melancholy or the giggles: a wide variety of emotions comes to the surface. Hidden behind clay the Anonymous Amsterdammers nevertheless show us their true face.