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Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Female Composite |
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Amsterdam is the Netherlands´largest city and center of culture, politics and commerce. The city proper has a population of about 700,000 while the metropolitan area has some 2.2 million people.The city was founded in the thirteenth century and it was one of the first in Europe to guarantee freedom of religion resulting in many religious minorities seeking refuge there. Amsterdam peaked in international importance in the 17th Century as the center of an empire stretching from the Americas to Africa to the East Indies and the city became the most important port of the world and an international center for banking. Amsterdam is one of the most diverse cities in Europe with some 45% of the population consisting of ethnic minorities including over 150 different nationalities. In addition to the Dutch majority the main ethnic groups are Surinamians, Moroccans, Turks, Chinese, West Indians, Pakistanis and Africans. Amsterdam ’s reputation for tolorence made it a magnet in the 70s and 80s for hippies from all over Europe while the eighties and onward saw a small exodus of people leaving the city for exurban centers. Today the city continues to attract liberals and artists from all over the world. Amsterdam in summer is a like a glimpse of Utopia – couples of every ethnic group or sexual orientation getting along with each other; public transport that works and everyone riding bikes. It really is how a city should be. My guide in Amsterdam was a Colombian architect who had come across the project via an article in a Bogota newspaper. He suggested Vondel Park as a location, so on a rainy Sunday afternoon we went there with four or five of his friends. The Dutch are an incredibly open and generous bunch of people and in no time at all we had our 100 faces. I was curious to see the result of the face of Amsterdam as my father’s family has Dutch origins so there was a personal interest in being in the city. Vondel Park turned out to be not as representative of Amsterdam’s diversity as I had expected but the Face of Tomorrow is not about deliberately seeking out diversity or difference for its own sake, it is simply about recording what is there. As always the combined face is striking in its beauty and its great to see that some of the smiles of the individuals have come through in the composite. Photographer: Mike Mike; Assistants: Roberto Uribe, Martin |
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| One poster is available for download: | ||
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© mike mike 2003, 2008 |
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