Photographer Viviane Sassen's first solo exhibition in Japan is being held simultaneously at two locations: G/P gallery in Ebisu, and TOLOT/heuristic. in Shinonome. Both venues will be open until November 30th.
Sassen shot the cover of Shiseido's Hanatsubaki magazine throughout last year, and produced Parco's annual seasonal advertising campaign in collaboration with M/M Paris. Along with her international recognition, she has also become increasingly active in Japan. She has gained recognition as a fashion photographer, having previously worked on advertising shoots for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, and Carven, as well as editorials for independent magazines like iD and Dazed and Confuzed. However, recently she has begun to be recognized as a contemporary art photographer in a broader sense, going beyond fashion. This exhibition focuses on two of her more personal projects. The exhibition in Ebisu features a black-and-white series of photographs of local people and scenes of daily life in Pikin Slee, a town nestled in the lush rainforest of the former Dutch colony of Suriname in South America. Created in 2012, this series' documentary elements and powerful, graphic compositions, like her other works, invite consideration of the boundaries between documentary and fine art. "The fact that the locals in the jungles of South America can speak Dutch is a twist of history," Sassen says. The location, a former Dutch colony, makes this a personal series exploring his roots. The somewhat outsider-like perspective of the works likely connects to his own experiences growing up as an outsider in a foreign country. The series "Lexicon" on display at Shinonome consists of 31 existing works that Sassen, together with curator Massimiliano Gioni, "intuitively" selected from the 2013 Venice Biennale. While Sassen is based in his native Amsterdam, Netherlands, his experiences growing up in Kenya have led to numerous photographs of local people in African countries such as Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, and Uganda. The 31 randomly selected works feature strong contrasts of light and shadow and graphic compositions that almost resemble collages. Furthermore, the works deal with situations that evoke awareness of "death," and the subjects' faces and locations are unclear, creating a close distance between the work and the viewer, in the sense of inviting empathy from the viewer.
It is likely that this sincere attitude toward her photography was the reason why Gioni, who sought out artists who create "personal" works in order to create "a worldview of the unconscious, the super-ego, and the maniacal," which was part of the theme of the Biennale, chose her work.
