Siegfried Woldhek

By LatAm ARTE

Siegfried Woldhek was born in 1951. After his biology studies, he worked for the Bird Protection Agency, first as a biologist and then as Director (1985-1990). From 1990 to 1998 he was director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Netherlands and until 2002 director of the International Action Network of the World Wildlife Fund. In the period 2002-2011 he started and directed the internet organization nabuur.com. Woldhek explains his ideas through drawing and organization, he is also known for the numerous psychological portraits he has drawn since 1976, including “Freedom Netherlands” (literary portraits) and “NRC” (political, sports cartoons). His work was often exhibited and published in different places such as the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Literary Museum and the van Stolk Atlas. He was the official portraitist for the TED conference in Los Angeles and his TED talk on Leonardo's face has been viewed more than 1 million times. For his conservation work, HRH Prince Bernard appointed him in April 2002 an Officer of the Order of the Golden Ark. In August 2002, the Jan Campert Foundation was awarded the G. H. S. Gravesandestraat Triennial Prize for exceptional literary merit. In January 2012 he received the Inktspotprijs for the best political film of 2011.