Natascha Libbert
Take Me to the Hilton – Limited Edition book, 2009
Oh, the Dutch. They have to make the rest of us seem so normal with their constant output of fresh, subtle design. When it also comes together with some good photography, then we end up with something that just feels right, like this magazine/catalogue from Natascha Libbert.
Natascha became a part-time flight attendant to help support a return to school and this work in 11 cities, from Florida to Tanzania seems to be a reaction to that timeless, placeless void that anyone feels when crossing time-zones, social structures and cultures. We then find ourselves in yet another hotel room where enough effort has gone into trying to even-out the local flavor to a point where we ask ourselves if we have ever left home.
This is a story about man’s attempt to model his surroundings to become that which he envisions as being an ideal world. It is about how a created world has become reality. I perceived this to be especially visible in places such as hotels, airports, lounges, avenues, resorts by the sea. These places seem to present man with a truth which may be difficult to live up to. Details, both subtle and paramount, can be read in the understandable attempt of man to maintain this created decor and himself in it. In the end, what remains is the undercurrent of man’s alienated relationship to the world he created, a feeling of estrangement. This is what I observe as I travel. It is what this story is about.
NL
Edit and design : Renate Boere ( and Natascha Libbert)
with an essay from Jurriaan van Kranendonk
Limited to 300 copies
56 pages
English / Dutch
25,- euro (excl. shipping)
It is sold through
Liefhertje en de Grote Witte Reus Gallery(The Hague),
Nederlands Fotomuseum(Rotterdam),
and Photo-Eye in the US.
Her work also represents Holland in The Exposure Project.