The holiday, where every day is a perfect day
Mounir Raji photographs tourism for the Rijksmuseum's annual photography commission
Publication date: 28 August 2023 - 12:57
For the 2023 edition of Rijksmuseum’s annual photography commission, ‘Document Netherlands’, the Rijksmuseum has commissioned photographer Mounir Raji to explore the theme of tourism. The tourism sector is now back in full swing. Tourists are back en masse, searching for unique experiences. For the commission, Raji joined a Caribbean cruise in early 2023. In this series of photographs, Raji involves us in his quest to capture the qualities of a perfect holiday. The resulting images offer a utopian, picture-postcard vision of life on board the cruise ship – from a sunset cocktail to jogging along the deck – while also highlighting the mechanisms that underlie tourism.
The exhibition comprises some 50 photographs and runs from 29 September 2023 to 14 January 2024 in the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery. The exhibition Perfect Day. Mounir Raji Photographs Tourism is made possible in part by the Floor Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds, the Familie Van Ogtrop Fonds / Rijksmuseum Fonds and Rijksmuseum NEXT.
My holidays used to be mostly family visits. We would drive to Morocco and stay there for six weeks, without any set plan. I didn’t see myself as a tourist on these trips. What I wanted to do for Document Netherlands was to experience the opposite: to go in search of the perfect holiday. A cruise is designed to give tourists exactly that. You escape from everyday life into another world in which security, entertainment and comfort are the order of the day.
Mounir Raji
Tourism
In early 2023 Mounir Raji travelled to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to join an eight-day cruise, stopping off at Curaçao, Aruba and the Bahamas. He chose this type of holiday because every aspect of a cruise is designed with tourism in mind. A cruise combines all the ingredients of the ideal holiday: fun and relaxation in the comfort and safety of a large ship. Here, every day is a perfect day.
For his series, titled Perfect Day, Raji steps into the secure bubble that is the cruise to go in search of his perfect holiday: eating an ice cream in the sun, lazing on a sunbed, joining an all-inclusive island tour. Everyone has a different idea of their perfect holiday, but they all share one thing: they want to escape from everyday life, just for a while.
Mounir Raji
Mounir Raji (b. 1982) is a photographer, image-maker and researcher renowned for the warmth and realism of his pictures. Alongside his commercial work, Raji has made multiple series that have been exhibited at Kunstmuseum Den Haag and elsewhere. 2023 saw the publication of his first photo book, Dreamland, a homage to Morocco.
Document Netherlands Junior
The Document Nederland Junior exhibition runs concurrently with Document Nederland in the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery. Document Nederland Junior is an annual photography competition for secondary school and college students. The theme this year was the same as for Document Nederland: tourism. Ten nominated young photographers will receive a masterclass by Mounir Raji and experts from the Rijksmuseum. The display will include the series by all 10 nominees. On 28 September 2023, the announcement will be made of two winners (one secondary school student, and one college student) selected from the 10 nominees.
Document Netherlands
The Rijksmuseum’s annual Document Netherlands photography commission has been running since 1975. For each edition, the Rijksmuseum invites a Dutch photographer to capture a specific and topical social theme. The previous recipients of the commission are:
Bert Nienhuis, Eddy Posthuma de Boer, Dolf Toussaint, Han Singels, Koen Wessing, Hans van den Bogaard, Bertien van Manen, Paul Babeliowsky, Jan Everhard, Eduard de Kam, Joost Guntenaar, Kors van Bennekom, Pieter Boersma, Ed van der Elsken, Hans Aarsman, Harry Meijer, Oscar van Alphen, Maya Pejic, René de Wit, Michel Pellanders, Theo Baart, Cary Markerink, Ferry André de la Porte, Nick Sinclair, Jannes Linders, André-Pierre Lamoth, Theo Bos, Hannes Wallrafen, Werry Crone, Reinier Gerritsen, Luuk Kramer, Roel Visser, Harrie Timmermans, Taco Anema, Bert Verhoeff, Koen Wessing, Catrien Ariëns, Céline van Balen, Stephan Vanfleteren, Mark Power, Eva Leitolf, Bart Sorgedrager, Morad Bouchakour, Janine Schrijver, Justin Jin, Jan van IJken, Geert van Kesteren, Raymond Wouda, Marnix Goossens, Ad van Denderen, Ilse Frech, Dana Lixenberg, Henk Wildschut, Hans van der Meer, Carel van Hees, Anoek Steketee, Stacii Samidin, Martijn van de Griendt and Sharelly Emanuelson.
