Viviane Sassen (1972)
Viviane Sassen’s photographs embody everything from staged portraits to an aesthetic interplay of shape, light and colour and a hint of photojournalism. In recent years Sassen has journeyed back to Africa, the continent of her childhood. On her visits to various African countries, she composed images that demonstrate a sharp sense of contrast. She met people who she was able to convince to agree to her wishes and ultimately produced a large body of work.
Sassen’s lens seeks out grains of sand on ebony black skin, frayed blouses with a Hermès print and scorching sunlight on crimson red earth in an extremely matter-of-fact way. She sometimes adds staged elements that are downright hilarious. One work shows a young man wearing a brand new pair of jeans and perfectly white sneakers hunched over carrying a coffin on his back as if he is cleverly escaping death. Sassen depicts the African continent as an unfathomable source of strength that leaves you behind in a somewhat dazed state. Traditions, resilience, humour and mysticism undulate through her images and obliterate stereotypes and media hypes. While she incorporates her childhood into the images, she also focuses on themes such as image, prejudices and the limitations of photography. She shot her images in countries including Ghana, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania.* Viviane Sassen both works as a fashion photographer and creates non-commissioned photography work. She was awarded the Prix de Rome for visual arts in 2007.**
* www.foam.nl, 27-11-2008
** TV broadcast, Prix de Rome, AVRO, 09-06-2007, http://player.omroep.nl/?aflid=4816554
