Hellen van Meene (1972)
'My photographs aren't meant as portraits. That's also why I don't give them titles.' Hellen van Meene is trying to do something different when she photographs her subjects, young girls hovering on the edge of adulthood. Van Meene uncompromisingly puts their angst and sensitivity on display in her photographs. 'When I see one of these young girls, I also see what she once was,' says Van Meene. They still have a certain openness in their attitude; they haven't chosen a path yet, they are still so playful and approachable.'*
Van Meene looks at her models with a painter's eye and shoots like a film director. 'The main thing I'm concerned with is how the light falls on pale skin, bruises on an arm, the beginnings of goose bumps in the cold. I'm also spending a lot of time on the mise en scène. The clothes have to be right, for example, the colours, the look and the posture has to match the image that I see in my head. Which is very detailed - right down to the nail polish.' Within these boundaries, Van Meene and her models create an atmosphere in which the images come about. It is this combination of 'script' and improvisation that gives Van Meene's photos their magical and timeless quality.
* all quotations: K. Schampers, Hellen van Meene:Japan Series, Edinburgh/Haarlem/Chicago 2002
