Invisible Lives

Colet van der Ven worked for many years in international aid organizations, in India and Haiti among other countries. Since 1985 she has written for various Dutch newspapers and journals. She has published nine books, including Het kwaad en ik (Evil and I), an exploration into the roots of violence. She has also worked as a radio and television presenter.



Adriaan Backer has been active for twenty years now as a documentary photographer. He has worked for several relief organizations and his photographs have appeared in various daily newspapers and weeklies. Together with Ricus Dullaert he produced A Call to Witness, about AIDS in South Africa. With Colet van der Ven he published Slagschaduwen, erfenis van een koloniaal verleden (Cast shadows, legacy of a colonial past) on the traces left by slavery in present-day Curaçao. Foreword is by international AIDS expert Peter Piot.