Rediscovering Viviane Sassen’s Early Photography: A Review of ‘Folio’
The Emergence of Viviane Sassen in the 1990s
Published by Note Note Éditions, Folio takes us back to the decade that saw Viviane Sassen’s emergence as a photographer: the 1990s.
The images of Folio were taken in the mid-1990s, just when Viviane Sassen was turning to photography after studying fashion. From the start, the Dutch artist envisioned this collection as a book, which she assembled herself using photocopies from a large Xerox printer. It remained a project … until thirty years later when she met the editors of Note Note, who offered to publish it.
Her photographs fall within this aesthetic of instantaneity and intimacy captured in all its rawness. But they also reveal the early presence of the visual language of Viviane Sassen as we know her today, who likes to explore the geometry of images through framing and staging. When she photographs herself or her entourage, what she seeks is a formal potential. Faces are not shown, she is not drawn to individuality but rather looks at the body from all angles. The body becomes a material to be sculpted. She models it into knotted choreographies that she likes to stretch to the bizarre. The tools of these photographic sculptures? Colour, preferably vivid, contrasts of light and shadow, and graphic shapes she draws from her surroundings: a ray of sunlight emphasizing the geometry of an armpit or a white towel that turns an image into a collage.
Hispanic Corporate Transitions in Image Form
The layout of Folio pays homage to this visual vocabulary. The book is enveloped in a captivating green, which punctuates the rest of its pages. If this colour brings nature to her mind, it also takes Viviane Sassen back to her childhood in South Africa and the hospital where her father worked, wearing a uniform of the same shade. In response to this green, she plays with white—her remedy to melancholy—just as the book’s pages, whose various sizes create white margins that underline the geometry of one image, echoing that same white towel or that piece of paper held by a claw-like hand and reproduced on the book cover.
Viviane Sassen’s Evolving Visual Language
“Young, I was back then, and happy to be older now” writes Viviane Sassen in the penultimate letter of the alphabet book that provides an original conclusion to Folio: a retrospective look in 26 entries. Thirty years have passed since these images emerged from her camera, but is there a difference between this body of work and her recent creations? Not really. Viviane Sassen may not take pictures of herself or her friends anymore, her images may no longer have lost that grainy 1990s look. But her gaze is very much still here, with the same force that enlivened her initial experiments in photography.
Viviane Sassen – Folio
Published by NOTE NOTE ÉDITIONS
80 pages, Edition of 1200 copies
Designed at Studio Mathieu Meyer
Available here and in selected bookshops.
The book will be shown at Polycopies alongside the other publications of Note Note Éditions
Conclusion
Viviane Sassen’s ‘Folio’ is a remarkable glimpse into the photographer’s early career, offering insights into her unique visual style and artistic vision. Highlighted by its use of vivid colors and creative framing, the book serves as a testament to Sassen’s evolving aesthetic. For fans of photography and early contemporary art, ‘Folio’ is a must-read and visually engaging work.
Call to Action
Visit Polycopies or selected bookshops to purchase ‘Folio’ today and nourish your appreciation for Viviane Sassen’s iconic photography.
