From 11 September till 25 October Breda will host the 12th edition of the biennial BredaPhoto Festival, the largest photographic exhibition in the Benelux. Dutch Design Daily highlights a number of Dutch participants during the festival period. Today, at the start of the festival, a short introduction, and about Puck Verkade. wth her video installation Uprooted.
The twelfth edition of the BredaPhoto Festival opens on 11 September 2026. Discover the work of more than forty national and international artists at unique locations throughout the city, from parks and historic buildings to unexpected indoor and outdoor spaces. Immerse yourself in striking photography and the stories behind it.
Our Songs Came Through
Under the title Our Songs Came Through, BredaPhoto brings together stories of comfort, resilience, and hope. What helps us recover after difficult experiences? How can we transform concerns about the world around us into optimism for the future?
The festival experience goes beyond photography. Alongside photographic works, you’ll encounter video installations, immersive artworks, and large-scale projects that invite you to become part of the experience. From internationally renowned artists to emerging talents, BredaPhoto combines outstanding artistic quality with unexpected discoveries.
Uprooted by Puck Verkade
In Uprooted, Puck Verkade takes you on a journey through a dreamlike video installation in which human destruction gives way to new life and a caring coexistence with plants and animals. In a soft, inflatable interior space—which evokes associations with the safety of a womb—we follow the descent of a rabbit-like creature, the protagonist of Uprooted, into her own rabbit hole.
As with every project by Puck Verkade, this work also stems from deeply personal experiences. Her pregnancy and childbirth sparked existential questions within her. What moral and emotional responsibility do you bear when you welcome a child into a world that is vulnerable and burdened by social and ecological crises? Verkade describes her journey into motherhood as a psychedelic trip. Through her alter ego, who embarks on an equally psychedelic journey to the depths of the earth, she translates her existential doubts into an installation featuring performance, animation, lyrical narration, and musical compositions.
The story begins on a dark, foreboding note. The warning “Your actions have consequences, gardener” seems to fall on deaf ears for the person trying to subdue nature. But Verkade draws hope from regeneration, gives her alter ego a choice, and thus allows a new worldview to emerge from the depths—one in which humans care for the non-human and harmonious coexistence becomes possible.
BredaPhoto Festival 2026
11 September – 25 oktober, 2026
bredaphoto.nl
