Black Swan Gallery is one of the new galleries at Art Rotterdam Unseen, and they bring what you hope to see at an interesting art fair. With van de Velde they integrate dance, performance, monumental arts and photography and Alexi Williams Wynn delves into natural sciences (from biology to medicine), sculpture and photography.
DAPHNE VAN DE VELDE NL 1973
Art Rotterdam/UNSEEN brings together photography and arts. That’s exactly what Daphne van de Velde also does: she creates photography, but also works with video, mixed media and sculpture. Her art is founded on a rich educational background in contemporary dance, architecture, monumental arts and photography. The result are surprising images in a fascinating, highly authentic visual language and composition.
Not only her education and the design of her works are relevant to understanding her oeuvre. At first glance, you might simply reduce her work to photographs of dance/ballet, but for Daphne, practising dance and photographing movement through self-portraits is a way to reclaim her rightful place in the world. And that in a world dominated by men, where female identity is barely accepted, where boundaries are frequently crossed (physically, morally and emotionally), where women are left behind with scars. Through her art, Daphne van de Velde finds a way to heal her scars and accept her identity. In other words, it is a poetic, activist reflection on being a woman in contemporary society.
She successfully exhibited her most recent monumental sculptures under the title ‘Penthesilea’ at the Approche salon during Paris Photo, she gave a glance of het earlier work at PhotoBrussels and for ArtRotterdam displays an overview from 2021 onwards.
Her new publication, “Of Me and You – On the Threshold of Intimacy”, which is available for viewing and purchase at the fair: shed a look!
ALEXI WILLIAMS WYNN UK 1972
Mathematicians recognize it: their knowledge however abstract it may seem is very close to nature and arts. Sequences like the one imagined by Fibonacci are to be found everywhere. Alexi Williams Wynn is probably far from being a number cruncher. But her approach is as fascinating & diverse, as is her background and she also discovers structural relations in nature to be mirrored in her art.
She studied painting, photography, sculpture & casting, but also wondered how the insides of organs may look like. And this artist didn’t just sit on the question she set about actively exploring how it could be made visible. The result are her sculptures: shapes that look familiar, yet bizarre and maybe even horrifying and this is internationally recognized: her work has already been featured in several Saatchi exhibitions
The tree-like structures are to be found in her wet collodion prints. Here winter trees are juxtaposed with medical imaging like arterial structures or infinitesimal nerval stems. By pairing the branching forms of the trees with the body’s internal networks, the works illustrate how the same fundamental patterns of structure are repeated throughout different scaling levels, from the large external forms of nature to the intricate internal systems in the body. She ultimately emphasises the universal unity of all life and perhaps asks how we deal with it.
Next show in Paris: RSF A Moveable Gallery, 75002 Paris, Sans anesthésie 2# 15 avril > 28 juin 2026 , Alexi Williams Wynn, Cat Soubbotnik, Daphne van de Velde, Kat Bové, Marcel Mariën, Nina Anduiza, Paul Van Hoeydonck curated by Patrick Amine.
Next Show in Bruges : Saudade – longing for the elusive with Bilal Bahir, Nick Verhaeghe, Guy Vording & Jenny Ymker from 16.05 till 14.06.
John Devos
johndevos.photo (a) gmail.com
