Simone Sassen: Tumbe

Simone Sassen is a photographer whose photos, taken mostly on her trips, have been exhibited both in her home country (The Netherlands) and elsewhere (Germany, Spain, etc.). Among other things, her photos illustrate the books written by her husband, Cees Nooteboom, acclaimed Dutch author and another guest of this year's Fabula festival.
Together, Nooteboom and Sassen have published Tumbas, an extensive collection of portraits and photos of poets' and writers' graves. Photos from the book will be exhibited at Galerija Fotografija gallery.

TUMBAS. GRAVES OF POETS AND THINKERS

Long after their death poets and thinkers keep on communicating with their readers.
Simone Sassen and Cees Nooteboom managed to capture this kind of bond in their joint project »Tumbas«.
Searching for traces of beloved literary role models has lead the authors of the book around the world. They have visited the resting places of their favorite authors in Europe, North and South America and in Japan and nowhere did they feel as close as right on their graves. In addition to the many already known cemeteries they have also visited many remote areas, islands, hills and gardens beyond the common and known.
The book is an interplay of memories, thoughts and the imagination of Cees Nooteboom, quotations of his favorite authors, completed with photographs of the graves by Simone Sassen, sometimes majestic, sometimes very simple and almost invisible. Very realistic photographs are subtle counterpoint to the delicate texts Cees Nooteboom.
The book does not evoke sadness as it much more encourages reading and is a way of keeping these great poets and thinkers, who have influenced the authors in the past, alive.