Viviane Sassen - PHOSPHOR: Art & Fashion

Viviane Sassen

Dutch contemporary artist Viviane Sassen quickly gained worldwide recognition, both in the fashion and photography industries. Her distinctive and eclectic visual oeuvre will fill almost the entire Foam building. PHOSPHOR: Art & Fashion focuses on two main themes: the importance of intimacy in her work and her ceaseless search for new photographic forms. The exhibition contains some of Sassen's best-known photo series, including the series Flamboya (2008), Umbra (2014) and Parasomnia (2011). In addition, her fashion photography for leading brands such as Louis Vuitton and Dior is presented in a monumental installation. The early experiments with objects from her personal archives, her first self-portraits and her graduation project reveal the origins of Sassen's visual language. These images can be seen for the first time in this exhibition.

Sassen's stunning oeuvre explores both the depths of human emotion and the limits of artistic expression. Themes such as death, sexuality, desire and the connection with the 'other' are discussed in her work. Sassen has a unique photographic style with her use of saturated colours, the graphic interplay of light and shadow and her surreal view of the body. Sassen regards photography as a magical medium. She sees photos as mirrors that reflect what already lives within us but also as portals to another universe full of endless possibilities. There are countless worlds for her to explore.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with The MEP in Paris and the curator Clothilde Morette. PHOSPHOR: Art & Fashion was also shown at Kyotographie in Japan and Fotografiska in Shanghai. The exhibition is coming to Foam in Sassen's hometown of Amsterdam.

About the artist

Viviane Sassen (1972, Amsterdam, NL) is a mixed-media artist. She initially studied fashion design but soon focused on photography and continued her education at the Utrecht University of the Arts (HKU). As a child, Sassen lived in Kenya, where her experiences inspired her art. She later returned to Africa, where she created the images that make up the series Flamboya (2008), Parasomnia (2011) and Lexicon (2014), gaining fame among a wider audience. Sassen is appreciated for her visual art and innovative fashion photography, and she has numerous publications, including New York Times Magazine, iD, Numéro, POP, AnOther and Dazed. Moreover, she has collaborated with renowned fashion brands such as Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier, Armani, and Hermès. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, and she received the Prix de Rome in 2007, one of the most prestigious prizes for visual artists in the Netherlands.