Cuny Janssen (1975)
For photographer Cuny Janssen, the portrait is as important as the landscape. 'There is a common thread underlying both my experience of mankind and my experience of nature,' says Janssen. Janssen started in 2000 with children's portraits in the Netherlands and won the second prize in the Prix de Rome two years later. Jury member Olivero Toscani suggested that she begin photographing children of war. 'I had this image of trauma upon trauma in my head, and that's not what I want to show,' Janssen explains. 'But a year later, I decided to take his advice, and to turn my preconception into a question. Is trauma all there will be to see? So I decided that I wanted to make contact with the child even in that kind of extreme situation, and to concentrate on the power and dignity of the human being.'
She first travelled to Macedonia and soon this followed with journeys in Iran, South Africa, Japan and elsewhere. Janssen wants to show that children all over the world are essentially the same, despite all topographical, historical and cultural differences. Her photographic portraits are about the universal equality of man.** Her children's portraits are punctuated with photos of the natural world that these children find themselves living in: from the South African desert to the saturated subtropics of Japan.*** Janssen also focuses on universal values in her landscapes. More than just a topographical place, nature shows us the myriad possibilities of life.
* S. de Boer, ‘Cuny Janssen’, unlocked # 02 rabo kunstcollectie, 2005, p. 40
** C. Janssen, Macedonia, Keulen 2003, z.p.
*** www.cultuurarchief.nl, 11.2008
