January 1- 31st: Femke Van Heugten

Sweet 16, Femke Van Heugten

I love this video that Femke shot at Jane's Carousel of a Sweet 16 party.

January 1- 31st: Femke Van Heugten

 

Femke, a photographer from Holland, returned to the Den after a year, still searching for the long lost love of Joe (above), a woman named Bertha who lived on Coney Island.  

A few days ago, after peeling back layers of information in public records and doing fieldwork in the streets of Brooklyn, Femke found evidence that Bertha is not listed as dead. Femke scoured Coney Island for Bertha, never knowing what she looked like.  The search continues...

Femke taught Rue (my daughter) how to use a polariod camera.  Here she is arranging objects on the table for the photo.

November 12th- 22nd: Femke Van Heugten

Femke came from Holland to look for this 78 year old man.  She met him 4 years ago while sitting on a bench in front of a bagel shop in Brooklyn.  He told her a tragic story about love.  All she knew was his name and the bagel place he used to go to. She returned to Brooklyn to revisit his story and reconnect him to the love of his life, a woman named Bertha who supposedly lived in Coney Island.

In return for a 10 day stay at The Den, Femke brought bags and boxes full of traditional Delft pottery from Holland, including an original hand painted tile from the 17th century.  48 hours after arriving in Brooklyn, she found Joe in a different bagel shop, one block away from the other one.  He remembered her, and continued telling her his story.  They ate Thanksgiving dinner together at Juniors' and revisited the block in Carroll Gardens where he grew up.  Despite visits to the Ellis Island Registry and Coney Island, she never found Bertha.