The Suzanne Biederberg Gallery presents the first Dutch solo exhibition of photographer Désirée van Hoek.
Van Hoek achieved international recognition in 2015 with her photobook Skid Row, an intimate portrait of the poorest neighbourhood of Los Angeles where thousands of homeless people live. In her book van Hoek focuses on portraits and possessions of the homeless, and on the buildings and structures which form their surroundings. A source of inspiration for her series was a study by the American Professor Larry Zimmerman about the material culture of the homeless.
Over the past few years, van Hoek has returned to Skid Row many times, most recently for work on a second book which covers the rapid gentrification of Downtown LA. In this exhibition for the Suzanne Biederberg Gallery, we present an overview of her old as well as her new works.
Van Hoek’s Skid Row photography and book were exhibited at Paris Photo, the WUHO gallery in Hollywood, and her book in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Swiss Foundation of Photography Winterthur, the Frankfurter Buchmesse, Ofpprint Paris and London, and Unseen Amsterdam. In the Netherlands it was selected as one the Best Book Designs of the Netherlands and Belgium 2015 (Bestverzorgde Boeken). Van Hoek’s work is in the collection of the Julius Shulman Institute in Los Angeles.
Désirée van Hoek: Skid Row Revisited
September 14th – october 27th, 2019
Suzanne Biederberg Gallery
1e Egelantierdwarsstraat 1
1015 RW Amsterdam
