Outside Room 8

Geert, 31-years-old, had been suffering from abdominal pain for a while and it was getting worse. After a few days, the doctor told Geert the bad news: He had a tumor in his colon, liver and other parts of his body that couldn't be cured. However, after a second and third opinion the image had drastically adjusted. "It was all very strange and confusing," says Geert, "but after a few intense weeks the oncologists contended that I could survive.” After the first surgery where they removed half of his colon, he underwent three chemotherapy treatments. In a second operation, pieces from his liver and gallbladder were removed. Geert’s cancer is genetically determined. His father carried the Lynch syndrome and passed away in November in the same year his son was treated for the colon cancer. When Geert was first diagnosed with cancer, Lotte asked if she could make a portrait photograph of him — “pure” — before the poisonous medicine was put into his body. They continued to collaborate on this photographic series throughout his treatment and recovery. Lotte says, "We chose analogue photography to represent the three most common cancer treatments: chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. We subjected film roll, negatives and prints to the same procedures that Geert’s body was enduring. After the chemo, Geert's urine was used to soak the film rolls. 4x5 inch film was radiated at an Amsterdam hospital. Partially burned negatives have become stand-ins for surgical procedures, the violence of both illness and ‘recovery’ on the body and eventually on the mind as well."