These photographs are images of a life behind the front door. That is a personal space which strangers are generally not allowed to enter. This fact alone arouses interest in most of us.

Private space is a personal space - a safe environment shielded from the outside world, and one of the seldom places in which one is allowed to be him/herself. If understood in that way, private spaces can be seen as self-portraits made out of daily necessities, tactile memories, and the embodiment of dreams.

It takes a lot of courage to let a complete stranger into your personal space - not to even mention the presence of a camera. I feel it is this strength of character that is depicted in my images. This is what makes these spaces into not so ordinary homes. Anonymous as they are, they all show a very personal world of experiences, feelings, colors, and light. It is this intimacy that I try to capture. Although I do not focus on any particular household object, they do give these pictures enhanced - and enchanted - significance.

I have been working on this project since 2003. Between 2003 and 2006 I have been shooting in the Netherlands, Finland, Russia, China, and Japan. Mostly I got admittance by going from door to door - street by street - ringing a doorbell and showing a letter in the appropriate language. This letter explained the reason for my standing there and the kind of project I was trying to accomplish. In this way - by coming un-notified - I was able to catch the real everyday life, not the censured version for visitors.

While working on this project, I found the need for a safe personal space to be universal - despite all cultural differences. We all can relate to these images through shared experiences and our own personal notion of home. In this way, these pictures not only open the door of private life of others, but they also offer a possibility for reflection on our own.

The project in the Netherlands, the one shown in DaedalusPhoto News (Nest-2004), somewhat differs from the projects in other countries. All these interiors were taken in a special care-home for the elderly in Amsterdam. All the people currently living in this home used to live in large houses. The question I was asking myself was: "What do you take with you when you have to move from 10 rooms full of memories into a studio or a one bedroom apartment. What choices do you make?" The result was above expectations. The pictures are named after the first name of the person whose home I photographed, and his/her age.