HAUTE PHOTOGRAPHIE Amsterdam 2024 #2 by John Devos
Paulien Dubelaar (The Netherlands) 1974 (images 1-4)
Paulien deals with existential questions, such as: the meaning of life and death, how can we live a significant existence, who are we as humans? Where answers are not readily available, she tries to explore with her images: in greatness and insignificance, in vulnerability and transience, in stillness and motion, in darkness and in light. She feels connected to the ideas of existentialist philosophers and uses them as inspiration in her photographic oeuvre
In her images Paulien shows moments that are detached from their past and their future. She wants to seduce the viewer to embrace every moment anew, to feel love for what is, and to even cherish fate.
Paulien uses different techniques to edit her images, such as etching, zokin gake, and cyanotype. By using these techniques, she adds an extra dimension to bring the images to life. The photographs are evocative, with a mixture of dreamlike content and pictorial aesthetics. There’s an intersection of romance, gothic darkness and fantasy.
Besides her creative work, Paulien is active in education, the last 12 years in management
Peter Molle (Netherlands) 1957 (images 5-8)
Peter Molle is a Dutch photographer. He learned his craft by being an assistant to several photographers in Amsterdam and New York. He then started directing commercials and after a long and successful career as a commercial film director, he recently turned back to his roots: photography. He now works on various personal projects in which he researches different ways to use the photographic process.
Peter uses photography mainly as a graphic tool, moving away from traditional photographic images. By focusing on texture and composition, he creates images that are visually striking, multi-layered and thought-provoking.
His goal is to challenge how people see photography, encouraging them to look beyond the surface and find abstract beauty beyond the obvious. By moving away from traditional photographic norms, he aims to push the boundaries of visual storytelling and evoke a deeper, more thoughtful response from the audience.
Peter’s work is inspired by art history, including movements like Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism, which aim to show deeper emotional and psychological truths. Like the Japanese Wabi-Sabi aesthetic, which finds beauty in the imperfect, temporary, and incomplete, he embraces and celebrates imperfections in his subjects. This artistic context influences his approach and visual style.
One of Peter’s notable series, ‘Broken,’ (now showing at Haute Photographie) explores the beauty of imperfection. This series shows how flaws and fractures can be beautiful, challenging traditional ideas of perfection. Through ‘Broken,’ he highlights the strengths and uniqueness in imperfection, encouraging viewers to appreciate the incomplete and the damaged.
Rutger ten Broeke (The Netherlands), 1944 (images 9-12)
Rutger ten Broeke is a key figure in the development of photography in The Netherlands. In his work, the relation between the female body and nature is central.
Out of fascination and respect for women, Ten Broeke mainly works with female models. Throughout the development of his oeuvre, the nude became more and more of a metaphor. The model – a word that Ten Broeke hates as it depersonifies – is not just a woman to the photographer, she is the symbol of ‘The Woman’. The photographer returns her to nature; two elementary sources, engaging one another. In his book Rutger ten Broeke. Forty Years (2009) he wrote: “I desperately try to let the two flow together, but I typically fail, no matter how hard I try… Fortunately in my efforts this search results in images I was not exactly looking for, but that I value all the same”. For Ten Broeke a good photograph, is a photograph that bares truth.
Ten Broeke never comes too close and hardly ever takes close ups. When he photographs nudes it is essential that there is a pure and archetypical rapport with their environment. The nude comments on the landscape or interior whereas the environment would, without human presence, be meaningless. It all boils down to a story about relationships, vulnerability and love.
Besides working as a photographer, Ten Broeke worked as an editor and journalist for Foto Magazine, organised the first Enschede Fotobiennale and founded Galerie F.32 in the late 80’s. He was also a teacher at the AKI art academy in Enschede for many years.
Samy Iverson (Egypt/ US) 2002-2023 (images 10-16)
Samy Iverson possessed an innate curiosity about the world and embraced each moment with an open heart. If you placed Samy in a room full of people, one could observe him effortlessly connecting with everyone present. His kindness and ability to always speak calmly defined Samy as a person of exceptional character, qualities that seamlessly translated into his identity as an artist and photographer.
Samy’s multicultural upbringing, rooted in both Egypt and America, significantly influenced his outlook on life. The combination of experiences in Cairo and Chicago shaped his unique perspective. Samy was interested in many things, including tennis, cars, stamps, watches, old photos and various antiques. These eclectic interests manifested in his photography, which took off when he received his first professional camera, a Nikon D3200 in. 2018. His photographic practice extended to architecture, cityscapes, monoliths, water and clouds, often characterized by his use of minimalism and negative space.
This group of gilded images (pigment on vellum over gold leaf) spans several of Samy’s series.
Samy passed away in 2023 at the young age of 21.
Simone Engelen (The Netherlands) 1988 (images 17-20)
“Someone is sitting in the shade today
because someone planted a tree long time ago”
Simone Engelen is an Amsterdam based artist exploring tranquillity. Shaped by her time living in a Japanese Buddhist monastery, her work aims to capture and evoke stillness, inviting the viewer to pause and engage with the essence of being. She will show a series of tempestuous pictures at Haute, evoking feelings of melancholia and introspection. Through her photography, she is constantly exploring new ways to quiet the mind. By taking on artistic challenges she plays with life’s malleability; each project an ode to being.
‘Crossing the Lake’ e.g. is a still from a performance. She walks back and forth across a huge frozen lake covered with snow, leaving a pattern of footprints until the surface is evenly covered by a 15-hour imprint of time itself, attuned to the artist’s own pace.
She will show two more series: Photosynthesis and Sir Etok.
Photosynthesis was created with the adage of- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi in mind: All the energy we take into our bodies is derived from the sun. In today’s indoor-focused lifestyles, our intrinsic connection to natural light is often overlooked. Despite the common belief that sunlight is harmful (especially for a ginger like me), complete avoidance can affect both our physical and emotional well-being too. So, every time I’m in a new place in nature I consciously take a moment to fully absorb the sun and its beauty. “Photosynthesis” was commissioned by Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam during the pandemic in 2020 and is inspired by my own longing for sunlight during winter and lockdown – a desire for a moment of photosynthesis.
Sir Etok, is a photo-journal relating one of her journeys in Japan in a poetic manner.
Tamara Stoffers (The Netherlands) 1996 (images 21-24)
Tamara Stoffers composes analogue collages with material of her large archive of publications of Soviet era. In an exploration of the distinctive visual language of this space and epoch, her works show an imperfect and artificial world in which the inserted protagonists have been given a voice of their own. Her interventions remain visible in the dysfunctional dreamscapes through cuts and printing grids.
She explains: “the aesthetics of the Soviet Union have a mysterious appeal to me. Its typical visual language in architecture and art feels nostalgic to some and is still relevant to others. I compose my images of old books concerning the USSR, cutting and pasting to create new situations. By digging through archives without a preconceived plan, I subconsciously find visual connections. My biggest challenge while doing this lies in the limitations caused by the size and subject of the source material. Subtle traces of the material and of my interventions, like grids and cuts, show that the basis is strictly analogue”
Since graduating art school in 2017 her collages have been shown at solo-exhibitions at art museums in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, as well as art festivals in Brussels and Rotterdam.
Tim Neels (Belgium) 1986 (images 25-28)
Tim Neels does not only take his inspiration from the images surrounding us but is also moved by emotions, stories and music. He does not focus on a specific artistic expression and will not be forced into a (strait)jacket, nor he accepts restrictions. This hard-won freedom is the source of his inspiration.
At Haute he shows us ‘Gedachtenvormers’ or ‘Thought-Shapers’’. In his perception we live in a rapidly changing society where we are flooded with an abundance of information through various channels. This stream of new, old, false or alternative data is trying to influence our thoughts, and we can’t always distinguish right from wrong, good from bad. Sometimes it feels like we are being forced to constantly form, distort or change our opinions.
TALENT
Ellen Kramer (The Netherlands) (images 29-32)
At the age of 9 a dear old aunt gave me my first camera. Simultaneously, she also offered my first photography course: she taught me how to develop analogue films. Her gift became a lifelong interest: even when I graduated as a medical doctor in 1986, I specialized in making & interpreting microscopic images .
After a severe illness, I had to give up a career in oncology. And again I thought about photography, but now I gave it my undivided attention. I took up the course at Fotoacademie Amsterdam where I graduated in May 2024. At the Academy conceptual photography was my main interest.
My habitual environment is my source of inspiration. My topics often have a social theme, and reflect my personal experiences. Tactility is also dear to me.
I prefer black and white as a way to see clearer structures. My images do not necessarily represent visible reality, but I try to uncover the tension between what we perceive and truth. So, I create a different world that sometimes is alienating and in which things are not always what they seem.
Creating artist books and printing on fabric provides an extra dimension in my work. I print and bind my books myself, and I hand embroider the textiles. By mixing media, using unusual formats, special kinds of paper or (transparent) textile, my images relate better and take the story to a higher level.
John Devos
