Mascha Joustra graduated in May 2015 at the Fotoacademie Amsterdam, specializing in documentary and portrait series. She graduated with a large series of photographs documented in a voluminous photobook called ‘Elders’ (‘Elsewhere’). The book has been shortlisted for the ‘Unseen Dummy Award “ in Amsterdam, september 2015 and has been presented during Paris Photo 2015 at the Polycopies event at the the Tipi Bookshop/Brussels. Her graduation series series called ‘Elders’ has been received very well and made entrance to several (inter)national exhibitions (see in menu 'exhibits and more'). "Mascha's work has different layers and each photograph is demanding time from the viewer. Some images are poetic some direct, but her work is often asking for closer attention." .. ..”. "I have the urge to tell and am interested in observing human behavior. I try to highlight human emotions in my work and at the same time I see beauty in objects or nature. Sometimes I spend more time talking to a person that photographing one. You could say my work is social documentary, but I think I use my images as metaphors to tell my own story. But the images are never staged or altered, that would feel wrong. It sometimes feels like a relief to express feelings through images. I work with different cameras, analogue and digital, whatever is on hand..".