Biography
Being born in a household with parents working in textiles, I have always been surrounded by beautiful things. My father stimulated me and my sister to draw and paint as much as possible, but when, at the age of nine, I realized that my older sister had a much bigger talent than I, I decided I wanted to learn how to take photographs. From that point on, I was nominated our family photographer.
After graduating from high school, I participated in several photography courses and found myself a part-time job at FOAM_Fotografie Museum Amsterdam, where I have been working on and off ever since. In 2009, I applied for the preparatory course of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, which I enjoyed greatly and I continued with the full four year BFA. I graduated from the Rietveld’s Photography department last July and moved to London, where I am currently living, to further develop my practice.
Coming from a photographic background, my main interest lies in how people consume images in their daily lives, and have done so throughout history. Through associative research, I try to investigate relevant crossovers and the implied opposition between high and low culture, private and public domain, the personal and collective memory and moving and still images. Often using found footage and with a strong interest in visual culture in the widest sense, my work consists of a growing archive/collection of images, which functions as my material.
By constructing and contextualizing the images till the found footage becomes my own, I gradually build towards a structured archive of the collective memory.
Not valuing images for their unique qualities alone, but finding substance in the reproducibility and collectiveness of images, I question the objectivity of images and how the camera has blurred the fine line between fiction and reality.
My work usually starts with theoretical research, often deriving from an image I have encountered, and develops into a more intuitive and visual project along the way. I find it important to have a theoretical approach toward my work, but to leave enough space for experiment and visual practice.
