Schippersverhalen (Stories of Skippers)
Jedidja Smalbil (Stadskanaal, NL, 1996)
“My artistic practice consists of my work as an (analog) photographer and project leader within the cultural sector in the north of the Netherlands. Concretely, this means that as an artist I collaborate with other artists, sea shanty choirs, cultural institutions, youth work, and care institutions - ranging from care for (older) people with dementia to day programs for people with disabilities. Sometimes I weave more personal stories into the projects I make, mainly rooted in my Groningen family background and the Groningen landscape. A collaboration can result in an analogue portrait series, an exhibition, a book, a festival program, workshops, or a performance. Thematically, my practice explores narratives around personal space, the idea of home, everyday life, care, inclusion, and visibility.
The work shown at the FMI graduation show is called Schippersverhalen, or Stories of Skippers. Since 2025, I have been portraying a diverse group of skippers who live and work in the heart of the Groningen landscape. My fascination with shipping comes from close to home: I come from a family of inland skippers, surrounded by stories of the water, full of down-to-earth pride, adventure, and hard everyday work.
While working on this series, I discovered how life on the water remains visible on land: old ship masts in gardens, anchors beside houses, and signs bearing vessel names on façades. Often belonging to (former) skippers who, like my grandparents, brought their mast and anchor ashore from their vessel.
The thesis I wrote for my masters is called: A thesis about cups of coffee and art. It is a research project, written in the form of letters, about the importance of drinking coffee together, the language you speak, the everyday and making art more accessible. In the end, the thesis turned out to be something else as well: a plea for every artist (and art institution) to step outside their studio or space and seek contact with groups they might not normally encounter. To learn that you can connect with anyone, be moved, find another value in your artistic practice, and that this can become a vital core of your work. That this is reciprocal. It is not an anti-white cube monologue, but a call for the importance of human contact, accessibility, expansion, and imagination within and beyond art through the representation of sincere, small and large stories.
If you would like to read the thesis, you can. You can email me at: [email protected]
