WAKEFIELD.- The Hepworth Wakefield is presenting a survey of work by internationally renowned Dutch artist and photographer Viviane Sassen (b.1972).
Straddling both the fashion and fine art worlds, Sassen is one of the most innovative photographers working today. For Hot Mirror Sassen selected individual images from her notable art photography series of the last ten years, as well as new photographs and collages. These selections have been combined to create ‘imagepoems’ that draw on the Surrealist strategies of collage, offering new and unexpected juxtapositions.
Sassen cites Surrealism as one of her earliest artistic influences, seen in the uncanny shadows, fragmented bodies and dream-like landscapes in her work. Timed to sit alongside The Hepworth Wakefield’s exhibition exploring Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, Hot Mirror highlights the Surrealist themes in her work.
Hot Mirror also presents a new version of Sassen’s immersive film installation, Totem (2014), within a purpose-built structure – constructed of mirrored walls and projections – specifically designed for The Hepworth Wakefield. The installation places the visitor inside an infinite surreal landscape, where shadows and reflections are amplified, creating an intertwining world between image and reality. This is the first time Totem has been on display in the UK.
Discussing the exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield, Viviane Sassen said: “I look forward to showing at The Hepworth Wakefield concurrently with a Lee Miller exhibition; the curatorial and architectural context promises to offer a different visual perspective for the work. Looking at my own images with new eyes is something I find truly exciting.”
Included in the exhibition are images from Sassen’s celebrated Flamboya series, shot in Kenya, where she spent part of her childhood, and presented at the 2013 Venice Biennale. There is also work from Parasomnia, an exploration of illusions, evocative of the dream-like state between waking and sleep; the Roxane books, a creative collaboration with muse and stylist, Roxane Danset; Pikin Slee, a journey to a remote village in Suriname shown at the ICA, London in 2015, and UMBRA, a meditation on the interpretative power of shadows. Sassen’s most recent series Of Mud and Lotus (2017), which engages in a conversation on transformation, procreation and fecundity, all elements traditionally ascribed to the idea of the feminine, is also being featured alongside new work currently in production.
A creative collaboration between Sassen and designer Irma Boom accompanies the exhibition in the form of a book – Hot Mirror – published by Prestel. It includes an interview with the artist and essay by The Hepworth Wakefield curator, Eleanor Clayton.
This exhibition runs alongside Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain at The Hepworth Wakefield until 7 October 2018.
Viviane Sassen (born 1972) is a Dutch artist living in Amsterdam. Sassen lived in Kenya as a child and often works in Africa. She is a photographer who works in both the fashion and fine art worlds. She first studied fashion at Arnhem, but soon turned to photography and completed a Masters degree in fine art. She has been widely published and exhibited all over the world, including a solo exhibition in 2017 at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. She was nominated for the Deutsche Borse Prize in 2015 and awarded an Honorary Fellowship by The Royal Photographic Society in the same year, and won the Prix de Rome (2007), The Netherlands. She has created fashion campaigns for Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, and Louis Vuitton, among others.
