Viviane Sassen
21 Jan - 05 Mar 2006
VIVIANE SASSEN
"Die son sien alles"
The exhibition 'Die son sien alles' (The Sun Sees Everything) shows photographs which Viviane Sassen took in the townships in South Africa. They are part of Sassen's more extensive project on youth culture in Africa.
Viviane Sassen (1972) works in different fields with her photographs. She exhibits her work but also accepts commissions. For example, she has taken photographs for the campaigns of fashion labels such as So (Alexander van Slobbe) and Miu Miu (Prada). In fact, her photographs are not immediately identifiable as fashion images, but rather have a clear connection with her own personal work. Another part of her work is created within an editorial framework for underground magazines such as Purple, Butt, Kutt and Re-magazine.
In 2001 Sassen made a portrait of a young African woman: 'Kathleen'. Using a cut-out, she caused a shadow to be cast exactly across the women's face and neckline. The alienating effect of this technique on the photograph corresponds to some of Sassen's earlier work, in which she coloured in the skin of the people in her portraits with a black edding pen. The identity disappears and attention focuses rather on the interaction of colours and forms.
In the series of portraits which Viviane Sassen made in the townships, shade is also present, almost as an extra 'graphic' layer. Sassen shows how young South Africans appropriate Western culture. Western clothes, music and advertising are adopted and individually customised, translated into their own style. They create a life with minimal means and succeed in being cool and trendy.
Surplus Western advertising posters are sold in the local markets in South Africa. The inhabitants of the townships use these not only to hide the holes and cracks in the walls, but particularly to brighten up their interiors, and thus their daily lives. Sassen was surprised and delighted by the poster interiors; the way in which the models in the posters are part of the houses and lives of the people in the townships and the painful contrast they reveal. 'For these people the western world - the many things we take for granted - represents a dream, a desire that will probably never be fulfilled.' Nevertheless, the photographs which Sassen took of these interiors do not show only the sad side of life in the townships. The interiors reveal a style of expression which differs from the western norm; it is fresh, spontaneous and full of energy, an atmosphere of hope and pride.
© Viviane Sassen
untitled, color print, 80 x 60 cm, 2005
"Die son sien alles"
The exhibition 'Die son sien alles' (The Sun Sees Everything) shows photographs which Viviane Sassen took in the townships in South Africa. They are part of Sassen's more extensive project on youth culture in Africa.
Viviane Sassen (1972) works in different fields with her photographs. She exhibits her work but also accepts commissions. For example, she has taken photographs for the campaigns of fashion labels such as So (Alexander van Slobbe) and Miu Miu (Prada). In fact, her photographs are not immediately identifiable as fashion images, but rather have a clear connection with her own personal work. Another part of her work is created within an editorial framework for underground magazines such as Purple, Butt, Kutt and Re-magazine.
In 2001 Sassen made a portrait of a young African woman: 'Kathleen'. Using a cut-out, she caused a shadow to be cast exactly across the women's face and neckline. The alienating effect of this technique on the photograph corresponds to some of Sassen's earlier work, in which she coloured in the skin of the people in her portraits with a black edding pen. The identity disappears and attention focuses rather on the interaction of colours and forms.
In the series of portraits which Viviane Sassen made in the townships, shade is also present, almost as an extra 'graphic' layer. Sassen shows how young South Africans appropriate Western culture. Western clothes, music and advertising are adopted and individually customised, translated into their own style. They create a life with minimal means and succeed in being cool and trendy.
Surplus Western advertising posters are sold in the local markets in South Africa. The inhabitants of the townships use these not only to hide the holes and cracks in the walls, but particularly to brighten up their interiors, and thus their daily lives. Sassen was surprised and delighted by the poster interiors; the way in which the models in the posters are part of the houses and lives of the people in the townships and the painful contrast they reveal. 'For these people the western world - the many things we take for granted - represents a dream, a desire that will probably never be fulfilled.' Nevertheless, the photographs which Sassen took of these interiors do not show only the sad side of life in the townships. The interiors reveal a style of expression which differs from the western norm; it is fresh, spontaneous and full of energy, an atmosphere of hope and pride.
© Viviane Sassen
untitled, color print, 80 x 60 cm, 2005