The Nederlands Fotomuseum shows photography and film about worldwide pioneers of sustainable food production in the exhibition Good Food
From 11 June to 1 November 2026, the Nederlands Fotomuseum, the National Museum of Photography, will be showing Good Food: A journey through the world of food and resilience. The exhibition presents a worldwide community of farmers, growers, thinkers and scientists who are working on sustainable ways of growing food. Since 2017, photographer Ruud Sies and creative producer Hanneke van Hintum have travelled to visit 120 pioneers of sustainable farming and food production in 22 countries on five continents. In photography and video, Sies depicts them in their own environment, focusing on their humanity and their convictions. From a still-growing collection of stories, the Nederlands Fotomuseum will show a selection of around 40 photographic and filmic portraits that demonstrate the diversity and resilience of these pioneers. Good Food is compiled by curator Frits Gierstberg and part of the international project Resilience Food Stories.
The exhibition takes visitors from small-scale farmers in Uganda and urban farmers in India to a Sicilian farmer and pastry chef and a Dutch pioneer of regenerative agriculture. As well as their portrait, for each person or community one or two images are shown of their land, their workplace or their immediate surroundings, demonstrating the relationship between humans and landscape. In brief video portraits, they speak for themselves. Their stories are personal and concrete, and they make clear how collaboration with nature takes shape in practice. In a time in which the debate about agriculture is often dominated by loss and crisis, this exhibition emphatically opts for a hopeful perspective: the urgency is tangible, the tone consistently optimistic.
‘The power of the exhibition lies in the images and in the obvious enthusiasm of those portrayed. As a viewer you feel: how exciting; how courageous and beautiful. The attentive photography of Ruud Sies, arising out of encounter and engagement, makes a crucial contribution to this effect.’
The exhibition also demonstrates that healthy food systems, based on working with nature and avoiding over-exploitation, are realistic and scalable. New scientific insights and technologies are combined with age-old farming knowledge. As well as farmers and growers, we hear from thinkers and researchers, including researcher and organic farmer Meino Smit, writer Carolyn Steel and organic farmer and founder of the Soil Association Patrick Holden. Their contributions place the personal stories in a broader cultural, ecological and economic context, and show how sustainable agriculture is taking shape worldwide.
To accompany the exhibition, the richly illustrated book Good Food: A Journey Through the World of Resilient Agriculture will be published by nai010 publishers. It is a collection of the most powerful stories and images from the project and includes a contribution by Dirk van Weelden, among others. Compilation: Ruud Sies & Hanneke van Hintum. Hardcover, English language, 544 pages, ISBN 978-94-6208-964-8, retail price € 44,95.
The exhibition marks the launch of the broader multimedia project Resilience Food Stories, which includes a sizeable publication, an extensive website and a public programme of talks, workshops and debates. For more information see resiliencefoodstories.com
Ruud Sies has worked for many years on documentary projects in which people and their environments are central. His work is characterized by a sensitive visual language. As the creative producer and co-initiator of Resilience Food Stories, Hanneke van Hintum is responsible for the organization, editing and development of the project. Frits Gierstberg is an art historian and freelance curator, lecturer, researcher and writer.
The Good Food exhibition is in receipt of financial support from the BPD Cultuurfonds, Elise Mathilde Fonds, Goeie Grutten, M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Stichting, Verzameling Van Wijngaarden-Boot and Zabawas.
