Since the age of 11, Roland has been dealing with illness. After many admissions, Roland was told he has schizophrenia. These were difficult years. Especially finding the right combination of medication was sometimes quite difficult.

Roland comes from a creative family: one uncle is an architect, another makes large, moving sculptures of steel, a cousin is a visual artist and his mother is a writer/journalist.

After studying MBO architecture and a year of HBO architecture, Roland felt unhappy. He applied to the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, majoring in Photographic Design. It was a liberation! He could finally do what he loved. “Photography is just my thing! I always see images when I walk down the street. Shit, forgot camera, I think then…”

Roland did his internship for the academy with fashion photographer Paul de Graaff. They travelled a lot together. Unfortunately, illness played up, preventing Roland from finishing the academy.

Roland ended up at Galerie Atelier Herenplaats through an assignment from the academy to do a reportage. He stepped into Herenplaats (which was then still on the Schiedamse Vest) and asked if he could photograph some of the artists. He was allowed and Roland then photographed there for several days and went on excursions. It became a beautiful photo series.

Years passed, during which he experienced a lot of misery. He moved from his student room to the GGZ Delfland in Schietbaanstraat. While cleaning up, he found the photos of the Herenplaats. I thought what should I do with them? His cousin tipped me off that the Herenplaats had moved to my street.

With the photos under my arm, I stepped inside. Richard really liked it! “Those are from over 26 years ago!”. I asked if I could do another reportage. I was allowed This was the start of picking up photography. Now I work several days a week at Herenplaats. He feels welcome and at ease.