Exposition Portretgalerij

Starting March 23, the exhibition Portrait Gallery by photographer Kees Martens will be on view. A two-part series in which he turns his lens on people in his immediate surroundings. In the city, in the neighborhood, in their living rooms. Well-known or unknown, visible or overlooked.

Portrait Gallery
For many years, Kees Martens photographed for the Eindhovens Dagblad. His portraits usually appeared in color in the newspaper, but during each photoshoot he would also create a black-and-white version – pure, powerful, and personal. These unpublished images now form the core of this exhibition.

Everyone he photographed had made the news with their own story. And through that story, they came in front of his lens – from city icons to unsung heroes. Through his understated portrait style, the person behind the headline is revealed.

Warm Woensel West
The second part of the exhibition focuses on Martens’ own neighborhood: Woensel West. He has lived there for over thirty years and witnessed the area transform from a ‘problem neighborhood’ into a so-called ‘power district’.

He captured that transformation in photos of demolitions and new construction – but above all, of people: residents in their homes, on the streets, at neighborhood events. Martens asked: how do the original residents experience all these changes? Do they still feel at home?

The result is a warm, honest, and engaged document of a neighborhood in motion.

“There are all kinds of people living here now – from newcomers to young professionals and everything in between, And there’s real life here: little shops, cafés, artists’ initiatives, a community center that actually works.”

The exhibition was made possible in collaboration with Pennings Foundation.