In the PS weekend magazine of Dutch daily Het Parool, you can read how I took on a rather peculiar assignment when I couldn’t travel back to our apartment in Kenya: Lieke asked me to photograph hundreds of Amsterdam’s ‘stone tablets’.
A bit more than a year ago, when COVID cases surged in The Netherlands, Lieke asked me to join her on a walk through a near empty Amsterdam – did I ever see these beautiful little pieces of art bricked into the walls of Amsterdam’s houses?
I must’ve cycled past them countless times, these so-called ‘gable stones’ showcasing ships, circus tents, angels and lovebirds. Could I photograph these tablets for her new Instagram account, Lieke asked? I decided that this could actually give my pointless lockdown walks some purpose, and said yes. My ‘gable stone safari’ had begun.
What I learnt from these little depictions filled with history, mystery and fantastic stories, often hidden in plain sight, can be read in a story I wrote for Het Parool. Click here to read the piece, or check out some of my photos over at Instagram: @stonetabletsofamsterdam!
