Antropomo Photography

Photography

Documentary and portrait photography that capture stories of people and cultures,

for more understanding, inspiration and making it easier to connect with each other.

On this page you will find my most recent projects.

Previous series and a further impression of my work can be found via the button below.

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Children of Sera Je

The series of photos below was created during my second stay among the more than 5000 monks in the Tibetan Buddhist Sera monastery in South India. In 2003, as a cultural anthropologist, I did researched the lives of the child monks (Why do they become monks? and What do they think of their life in the monastery?). In 2024 I went back to meet and photograph the children from back then, now adult men, and the children who live in the monastery today.

Although the basis in the monastery is the same, the view on the upbringing and guidance of the children has changed. In contrast to more than 20 years ago, there is now more room for the children to be children, instead of 'Buddhas in training'. I captured this apparent contradiction between the strict life of a monk and being a child in this series.

Publish or exhibit this series?

Do you have a gallery, exhibition space, or other location where this series can be exhibited?

Or would you like to publish an article or interview together with (part of) this photo series?

Please contact me via the button below, or send an e-mail to: monique@antropomo.nl

With this photo series I also give inspiring and informative talks about the life of the child monks.

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With my documentary series I take the viewer to places they would not normally go themselves. I show how life can be, in various cultures, living conditions and religions. How do people live? And why do they live the way they do?

You will get an answer to these questions, I have always asked myself.

Sometimes I wish I had discovered photography earlier as a medium to get even closer to people.

Monique Tekstra-van Lochem | Antropomo

The women of Morocco

In 2022, after a spontaneous reaction in which I told our help at the time, that I would like to go with her to Morocco, I was actually allowed to go with her on a family visit. It became an unforgettable trip, during which I visited places that are normally discouraged as a tourist, or where you simply do not go because you do not know they exist.

The most striking and impressive thing during this trip was the way in which I was literally embraced by the women, immediately upon arrival at the airport.

For most marriages in Morocco, the woman moves to the house and therefore the family of her husband. This means that in that family-in-law, almost all women (except for the mother and unmarried sister of the man) are 'strangers'. As 'wives of', who are often at home together to take care of their family and household, they spend a lot of time together. They lean on each other and support each other. I have tried to capture that female bond with this documentary series.

Publication

Vrouwensysteem. Melkbroederschap. Liefde.

Women's system. Milk brotherhood. Love.

"I have seen a lot of the world and lived in different cultures, but the mothers in Morocco made a deep impression on me."

These are the words that begin my contribution (p. 219-293) in the book "De leegte omarmen" (transl. "Embracing the Void" by Joanne Nihom, 2024).

In it, I talk about the journey I made with our help, to her family in Morocco. An unforgettable journey, in which the bond between women in particular made an indelible impression on me. As a foreigner who did not even speak the language, I felt so welcome!

And in addition to the more universal women's issues such as pregnancy and children, the women taught me about culture-specific topics such as the milk brotherhood and I felt how women are there for each other, for example when one cannot care for her child and the other is involuntarily childless.

In the book you will find more contributions from writers and researchers about (involuntary) childlessness, motherhood and embracing everything that comes with it.

Order the book