“PHOSPHOR: Art & Fashion 1990-2023”, spread over several rooms and including over 200 works, some of which are being presented for the first time, is a journey through the evolution of the Dutch artist’s art from when she was a student to the present day
A major retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris and an album which will be published in January 2024 by the Prestel house celebrate three decades of creative progress by photographer Viviane Sassen.
“PHOSPHOR: Art & Fashion 1990-2023”, spread over several rooms and including over 200 works, some of which are presented for the first time, is a journey through the evolution of the Dutch artist’s art from when she was a student to the present day. On the occasion of the exhibition, Viviane Sassen spoke to Dazed.
The exhibition opens with the photographs she had taken in Africa where she had lived until she was five· has already spoken about how these years shaped her artistic approach. “I think it made a big impression on me. At that age, you experience everything for the first time. My mind was full of light, color and smells. I often refer to this period – I was four or five – as the years when children go through this magical thinking phase. In a way, my work is connected to that: to this kind of magical world,” he said.
What was it like going back there to take pictures? “When, in the 2000s, I returned to my village in Kenya as a photographer, I realized that the image of Africa in the media was very limited – whether it was famine and disaster, mostly grainy black and white photos or the kind of National Geographic. Working there as a photographer, I realized that they didn’t necessarily have to be documentary photos but that I could direct my photos,” he explained.
Of the physicality in her photographic compositions she explained: “I think it started when I was really young. My dad was a doctor and I think in a way the body was always present. I’ve always been interested in how strange the body is. I remember, when I was young, making shapes and sculpting in the mirror, just amazed at my own body”; this is evident in the album “In and Out of Fashion”.
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“When I started taking pictures, I found that I was always being shot, in the process of editing, the images that did not show the face. These images are more mysterious. We’re all so trained to see faces and read emotions, but I think if you don’t see the face, the person becomes more of a general idea. It’s easier to see yourself,” he emphasized.
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“The same themes come back to my work, over and over again. I think it’s always about somehow finding a balance between opposites: chaos and order, light and shadow. I think it’s very fundamental – it’s, after all, about life and death,” she pointed out, and this is evident even in her fashion shoots.
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The exhibition at the MEP ends on February 11, 2024 and on her Instagram account we have the opportunity to get to know Viviane Sassen’s aesthetic pursuits better.
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Source :Skai
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