Olga, Odessa, 1991 © Bertien van Manen

Bertien van Manen was born in The Hague, Netherlands and lives and works in Amsterdam. Known for her intimate portraits of the people she photographs, van Manen immerses herself in their lives in order to reveal the poetry within the everyday.

This photograph is from Let's sit down before we go published by MACK Books in 2011—the title of these series is a metaphor for the subject of the images, an old habit before leaving for a long journey, people sit down for a moment and think about where they will be going and why. Of this image van Manen writes:

“Olga and her Russian parents visited their Ukrainian friends in the datsja near Odessa in Station 16. We had a lovely picnic in their garden.”

Image courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York and Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam. For more information visit the artist’s website.