‘It’s always about desire and fear, about making images that are both appealing and unsettling. Somehow my photographs are always slightly off; otherwise they would be very boring’.
Dutch born Viviane Sassen has worked for high profile publications such as I-D, Purple, Dazed & Confused and Fantastic Man, VOGUE France, Another Magazine, V Magazine, Selfservice, Numéro, 10 and POP, along with shooting campaigns for Miu Miu, Adidas, Stella McCartney, Louis Vuitton, Eres and Vitra.
Her main focus is on portraiture; she is not interested in a specific type of person, rather, she is trying to capture or produce an image that goes beyond the physical description of an individual. She has traveled and photographed extensively throughout Africa, feeling a connection with the place and its people.
In a recent interview, Sassen talks about her personal work, stating that….’While feeling to be a part of this world, I have also kept on being aware of the fact that I would never really be a part of it. Very soon, I have come to understand that I would always remain a stranger. In this way I try in my work to figure this ambiguity. You feel close but at the same time distant. And that is something that is most of times absent in traditional Western depictions of Africa, always clearly reflecting the interpretation and gaze of Westerners. I am trying to put that in doubt but at the same time, I am also that Western person so I can’t get completely free from that background’.
The images below are from her most recent series, Parasomnia.
