Artist: Viviane Sassen

Viviane Sassen

I first came across the work of Viviane Sassen when reading a Photoworks magazine (2010) and was struck by the beauty of her images. They are a cross between portraits and fashion images, and I thought her use of light (and in particular shadow) was intriguing for fashion photography, and I really liked the bold use of colour and paint in her staged images (I think they are all staged actually).  Often her models are not identifiable – either by use of shadow or a hand over the face or facing away from the lens. They are also not typical in many ways – for example one image in the Photoworks magazine shows a person sprawled on the ground under the shady shadow of a tree. To identify the image as fashion (i.e. about the clothes or style?) is quite amazing! Her images are quite enjoyable and fun to look at (and I imagine to take), which seems at odds with what I know of the fashion industry (something I’m not particularly interested in to be honest).

Viviane Sassen, taken from http://www.vivianesassen.com/ for personal study purposes

Viviane Sassen, taken from http://www.vivianesassen.com/ for personal study purposes

Viviane Sassen, taken from http://www.vivianesassen.com/ for personal study purposes

Her work also graces the front cover of this month’s BJP (print issue December 2012), and also the BJP iPad App (Summer 2012), and I also think it features in the Hotshoe Magazine, though I have not received my copy yet. Her work is distinctive and different – she certainly knows her voice and style and works with it. I find the starkness and bold ideas (model bent back over chair/ head in water / use of mirrors and other simple devices) inspiring and I think it would be fun to try to incorporate into my work if I get the opportunity. I certainly plan on following her work.

Here is an image taken for my Assignment 3, which I think is quite ‘Sassen’ like…

References:

British Journal of Photography (2012), BJP December 2012 [Volume 159 Issue No 7807]

Photoworks (2010) Photoworks Spring/Summer May/October 2010

Sassen, V (2012), Viviane Sassen Website [Online], Available at: http://www.vivianesassen.com/ [Accessed 26/12/12]

Sassen, V (2012), Viviane Sassen Facebook Page [Online], Available at: https://www.facebook.com/viviane.sassen.3 [Accessed 26/12/12]