Sander Coers (1997) is a photographer based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands whose work evolves around heritage, identity and memories. The influence of nature is strong, evoked by nostalgic echoes of sultry summer days from his youth in Zeeland. While creating colourful and seductive stills through both documentary and staged photography he crafts moody, romantic and dreamlike realities, in which he reflects on the experiences of his subjects as well as his own.
About Come Home – words by Sander Coers:
I graduated in January 2021 from the BA Photography at Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) with my project and corresponding publication Come Home, which is a visual study of the masculine lovescape.
Through intimate portraits, sun-drenched stills, photos of flowers, and sultry details I explore the way young men experience intimacy and express love. As a means of achieving self-acceptance and coming to terms with my own emotions, I followed a group of twenty-something year old men over the course of 2020 to try and discover how growing up, dealing with past experiences, and expected stereotypical masculine behavior affect the expression of oneself.
Packed with symbols of my youth in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (a popular holiday destination in the south of The Netherlands), the images radiate a certain nostalgic aura that makes them seem like a distant but collective memory I share with the people I interviewed and photographed. A big part of this project is the sea. Symbolized in literature and films as both masculine and feminine, the sea represents the duality that these men experience.
