Mandy and Eva

The stories of Mandy and Eva Mandy and Eva are girls, even though they were born as boys. For six years the documentary photographer Willeke Duijvekam followed them, through the struggles that they had to undergo so early in their lives to outwardly become the girls that they already were inwardly. Because she followed Mandy and Eva for so long, her eye was able to penetrate far below the surface. The stories of Mandy and Eva is presented in a book. In this book Willeke Duijvekam reveals how for both girls the radical transformation into self-confident young women was chiefly an internal process. Her subdued photographs show how Mandy and Eva are absorbed in their everyday activities, or in their own thoughts. They are two remarkably normal girls - the one more vivacious, the other quieter - who do nothing other than live according to the dictates of their feelings. That the connection between the two girls is arbitrary, is supported by the ingenious design of the book: it is the sum total of two smaller books. The pages are folded in such a way that when looking at a photo of Mandy you also see a part of a photo of Eva, and visa versa. Their stories are told in reverse order. Leafing through the book, you go in time. As a documentary photographer, Willeke Duijvekam ( b. 1968) has an interest in people whose lives have taken a significantly different turn than those of most others. Her projects are often long-term, allowing the development of a bond between the photographer and her subject. For several of the photos from this series Duijvekam won a World Press Photo Award in the Portraits stories category in 2009. She has previously won several other prizes, and has published in various Dutch and foreign magazines. For more information about the book, see www.willekeduijvekam.nl or send an email to info@willekeduijvekam.nl