compendium

ABOUT

With One Another is created and photographed by Marc Haers.

‘I turned pain into beauty, in this I found healing.’

The stories of WOA are inspired by the journeys and hardships we go through as people. For me, it is is the inevitable balance between light and darkness in myself that I always have to find to be able to move forward.

The project is a reflection of life. It's beauty that you will experience at first sight. Though the true beauty and strength of storytelling reside deeply within the imagery. Hidden underneath lies truth, experiences, rawness, life, joy and pain.

’Creating is therapy to me, without it I fade.’

My project is strongly informed by my personal journey in life. A combination and outlet of regression, catharsis and post traumatic growth. This ‘evolution of the spirit’ is a universal story among all of us, and something that has been inseparable with the project.

I unknowingly created this world as a reflection of my personal (hi)story. Each chapter being a direct manifestation of my life at that given moment. An answer to the questions I didn’t know I was asking at the time. Sometimes a chapter reveals itself quite clearly in the things I’m experiencing at the time but mostly I only realise it’s value years later.

I’ve always been captivated by reading books or watching movies about worlds that truly feel alive and real. Though my skillset doesn’t include writing books nor directing movies. So I was forced improvise and use the resources available to me. Meaning that the creation and output would be through digital photography with teams I’ve met in the fashion/commercial industry. Turning it into a novel someday remains a long and slow work in progress.

Attempting to diverge from the ‘antiquated’ way of storytelling I have decided to steer clear from the very familiar ‘physical warfare’. This world focuses on different aspects of life, like inner turmoil or emotional conflict . In doing so the story naturally moves away from the primal approach between ‘good and evil’ where any character can encapsulate both a protagonist and antagonist at once. There are millions of stories to be told within the world of WOA both joyous and tragic. I want to leave it to the viewer to find them.

The first imagination of With one Another was happened when I was 22 years old in the spring of 2013. At the time I just started my full time career as a photographer. I can recall that during a 30 minute train ride I was suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of inspiration. I imagined a tribe of young people relying on one another. Resembling the people I worked with and us relying on each other in the creative industry. In our daily lives we were all individuals but when we were on set we became a family that worked in unison to reach one collective goal. I wanted to translate that into a creative story.

At the time I’d been wanting to do a photoshoot with a larger group of people though didn’t yet know how. I felt that my colleague photographers in The Netherlands weren’t willing to do something that was greater than the sum of their parts. So instead of being critical of others, I decided to push my own work beyond this ‘safe-zone’ of photography I was thinking about. So I subconsciously started thinking of how to create something that could also inspire others.

After this train-ride and conceptualising what I saw. I decided I was going to create a world that a fictional tribe lived in. A world mirroring parts of our own. Though in this case I wanted to take out the bad and infuse it with good. I set out to create this Magnum Opus that showed the true potential of young creatives while also carefully critically looking at the world we lived in today. A ‘new world’ heavily inspired by our own. Together with the talented people I surrounded myself with at the time we set out to do the impossible.

After this ambitious (and thankfully successful) shoot took place, I went home and felt something I hadn’t felt before in my entire life. Gratitude, accomplishment and true creative fulfilment. I knew at that very moment this was going to be a project for life. I envisioned more tribes. A tribe of nomads travelling between clans supplying the world with resources ranging all the way to god-like entities spread through their world. A people with their own religion, their own hierarchy and most importantly living in their own cultural and emotional harmony. A world that I would want to live in myself.

This was the beginning of the world of With one Another.

I waited for the right moment for the project to come back to life as it had been ‘on the shelf’ since 2018. COVID further delaying the possibility to work with larger groups of people. In 2023 the project reached its 10th year of existence. With the world ‘opening up’ again, combined with personal growth - I knew that it was the right time to reinvigorate the project.

With a new set of skills including 3D creation I’ve re-launched and re-introduced the world of WOA with a deeper narrative. I was able to design and generate the planet where my tribes exist using the ever more accessible 3D software and tools. Mapping out the landscapes freed up my mind to expand on this already deeply rooted story. Exploring its origin, its present and ultimately its future.

My intention for this project isn’t for it to become well known or ‘popular’. When people ask me what it is that I’m trying to accomplish with each chapter - my only answer would be ‘just to create’.

Though after finally building the actual world/planet they live in I do envision carrying this project across the Dutch borders into other countries. Finding new landscapes and collaborations abroad.

I am aware of the fact that recognition and knowledge of the project will be a large contributing factor. So where there’s opportunity to do so, I will gladly exhibit and showcase the project. I will never force it though. The project is too valuable for that.

I will keep creating chapters till the end of my days, that’s a fact. Within the endless possibilities of this world new tribes could be discovered/created even long after my passing.

GEOGRAPHY