Faces in the Water

on mental illness and systematic disregard


Following the stories of five young adults grappling with depression, disorders and suicidal thoughts, the project looks at the impact of mental illnesses on their lives - and at their struggle with the Dutch mental health care system.

Through photographs, interviews and drawings, the five share intimate accounts of being in increasing conflict with themselves, and of being sent away, unheard, unhelped and misunderstood.

2021-2022

I miss you, home

squatting as a consequence of the housing crisis

Lina Selg, Ben Maier, Dario di Paolantonio

Den Haag is facing a housing shortage. As a consequence, a lot of its citizens have issues in finding suitable accommodation, and are affected by inappropriately high rental prices. Amongst them there are students, whose hope to build a better future is too often hindered by the failure of getting a basic human need – a place to live.
Lacking sufficient social support, they hop from one friends’ couch to another, or reside in expensive hostels, suffering from emotional distress. In such precarious living, squatting becomes for some the solution.

The works in ‚I miss you, home‘ research into the subculture of students occupying empty houses for living. When a basic need is not guaranteed, civil disobedience might take place as a way to confront systematic inadequacy.

2018-2021

Punks don’t dance

stories from the underground 

This portrait and documentary series shows characters and scenes from the ‚Underground‘, the anti-fascist anarchist scene of Den Haag; a scene which is commonly wrongly reduced to drug addicts and lowlifes.

What I encountered was a a fascinating, caring and highly politcial group of (young) adults that value solidarity, individuality, fighting for a different future.
Some of them are activists, protesting the inhumain reality of the housing market and the structures of racism and facism embedded in the dutch society.  Some are musicians, punks, misfits. Others are international students, having to result to squatting unable to find secure housing elsewhere.

They all face a harsh reality of exclusion, an economy that favours capital over individuals and an increasingly difficult law system regarding squatting, all the while the problems of the housing industry continue to worsen.

And through it all, they are a community.

2018-2020

Supersonic Blues

A psychedelic rock band from the Haagse underground.
Portraits over the years.


2020-ongoing