"I am mainly concerned with things such as the lightfall on a white skin, bruises on an arm, hands which disfigure in water, and starting goose-pimples in frosty weather. Only then you see the texture of the skin so beautifully. It is exciting to see what happens when you put a leg over a horizontal bar or when you hang a person's hair in a bush. Besides this I pay a lot of attention to the right position, to the mise-en-scene, to matching clothes as well as their colour, to the gaze and posture of the model. I arrange everything, to the smallest detail, such as the nail polish on their fingers." Hellen van Meene
Over the past four years Dutch photographer Hellen van Meene , born 1972, has travelled across the world making a sequel to her series of portraits of teenagers, which brought her worldwide success. Having worked mainly with teenagers whom she already knew, for her new body of work, on display in Amsterdam until November, van Meene took a different approach, seeking out unknown models on the streets of Japan, England, Germany, Letland and Russia. The spontaneity behind Van Meene's most recent series gives rise to a heightened emotional and psychological charge between photographer and model. As Kate Bush writes in her monograph on Hellen van Meene published by Aperture, 'the picturesque qualities are undercut by a disquieting tension: the models' clothes are ill-fitting or inside-out; one girl is asked to lie in a cold bath, fully clothed; another models a fresh bruise. This intimate collaboration between the photographer and her models simultaneously exposes the uncertain nature of adolescent identities and the complicated act of capturing them on film. '
Hellen van Meene will be running a public masterclass for young photographers at the Huis Marseille in Amsterdam on Saturday 4 November. She will review portfolios and discuss the do's and don'ts of portrait photography. There will be two masterclasses starting at 8 and 10 pm. There are a limited number of places available for participants so a selection will be made in advance. If you would like to be considered you must submit a CD of your work with a written statement and CV before 9 October. For more information click here.
To coincide with the exhibition in Amsterdam, Schimer/Mosel have published a book of Hellen van Meene's new portraits (German/English, 96 pages, ISBN 3-8296-0264-2, 978-3-8296-0264-8 € 29.80).
HELLEN VAN MEENE
Until 26 November
Huis Marseille
Foundation for Photography
Keizersgracht 401, 1016 EK
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)20.5318989
www.huismarseille.nl
All photos courtesy of Sadie Coles.
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