Helena van der Kraan

‘Portraits’ consists of a photographic series on teddy bears by Helena van der Kraan (1940), a project which she has worked on over a period of five years. The teddy bears she portrays originate from different places – borrowed from friends, found at garage sales, or gifted by “bear spotters” – and their well-worn, sometimes ragged appearance hints at a lifetime of memories. Van der Kraan poses the bears in natural light for portraits that she takes using an analogue camera, which seems appropriate to the touching and emotional character of her images. This book is published on the occasion of an exhibition of Van der Kraan’s teddy bear portraits at Fotomuseum Den Haag.