Your personal invitation for my Henro exhibition
Bastiaan Woudt
Your personal invitation for my Henro exhibitionIf you'd like to be there: you're welcome
On Friday 27 March 2026, I’m opening the doors of my studio in Alkmaar for the world premiere of HENRO — a new body of work and the official launch of the book published by 1605 Collective. It is the first time this project is shown. If you’d like to be there: you’re welcome. Attendance requires an RSVP — see below. Hazenkoog 9 · 1822 BS Alkmaar
In March 2024, my brother and I travelled to the Japanese island of Shikoku. We brought our bicycles and cameras. We did not bring a plan. Shikoku is home to one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in the world — the Henro. A path connecting 88 Buddhist temples across mountains, forests, and coastal roads. More than 1,200 kilometres. The route was first walked by the Buddhist priest Kūkai in 815. Since then, people have been returning to it, in search of something they can rarely name in advance. We were not pilgrims in the traditional sense. But somewhere along the way, the journey became something I had not expected. Not a trip. Not a project. A practice. The days started to look the same. Wake. Pack. Move. Arrive. Rest. Repeat. In that rhythm, something cleared — and the camera became harder to use. Not technically. But the usual way of seeing stopped working. The instincts I had built over years felt like the wrong tool for this particular road.
Somewhere around the halfway point, something shifted. I started looking differently. Not at the obvious. Not at the moment. At what was just before or just after it. That change followed me into the edit. Images I would have dismissed, I kept. Images I would have chosen, I let go. What came back is not what I would have made before this journey. It is a different visual language — a new way of presenting work, and a new approach to editions and pricing. The images are fragments. More like memory than fact. Like something that happened just before waking up.
The works are printed using piezography on Japanese paper — Haini Kozo and Awagami. Each in a limited edition of 7. The book HENRO, published by 1605 Collective, will be presented on the opening evening. Pre-order opens on 20 March — more on that in a separate newsletter coming soon. Friday, March 27 — Opening & Book Launch 16:00–19:00 · Official moment: 17:00 Weekend viewing — Saturday March 28 & Sunday March 29 Sat 11:00–15:00 · Sun 13:00–17:00 Week viewing — March 31 to April 3 Daily 13:00–17:00 I look forward to welcoming you. — Bastiaan You're currently a free subscriber to Studio Notes. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
© 2026 Bastiaan Woudt
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