Photographer Linda van der Wijk specialized in
describing unique people from different corners
of the world through the use of light and shadow.
She finds her models during her travels; like the
Nenets in the autonomous Russian region of Yamalo-Nenets, the participants at the annual Nadaam Festival
in Mongolia, the World War II veterans during the celebrations of “Victory Day” in Moscow, and the
 hill tribes of Thailand.

The people people are usually portrayed in their own environment and do not specifically pose. Sometimes they are busy with their daily tasks or chores.

Linda is trying to put aside the generally accepted (and adhered to) standards and norms for that define beauty and looks for an alternative.

From 2002 until 2008 Linda lived and worked in Russia. During her travels in the region she has been amazed
by about the “quilt of ethnic groups” that the former Soviet Union is and by the fact that all these different people and cultures were bound together by the borders of a gigantic nation state.
 
She is experiencing a similar wonder and fascination
in Asia now that she lives and works in Thailand.