Viviane Sassen Mirrors and Portals

Tracing a career of more than thirty years, this celebration of the prodigiously talented Dutch photographer includes vibrantly colored portraiture, landscapes, still lifes, abstract compositions and fashion editorials.

From her early African-inspired work to her more recent experiments in interventionist techniques, Viviane Sassen has gained international acclaim for her striking, dynamic images that explore a range of themes and subjects—from identity, gender, and the body, to race, fashion, and the environment.

This retrospective book brings together both well- and lesser-known works and includes pieces from her recent series, “Paint Studies,” in which early photographs are reimagined with ink and painterly marks, and “Venus and Mercury”, a collection of exquisite photomontages based on the history of the Palace of Versailles.

An introductory essay and interview with the artist combine with additional illuminating texts to make this the definitive overview of an important and ever-evolving photographer.

Viviane Sassen was born in Amsterdam in 1972, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Arnhem in 1997 having studied fashion, photography and fine art. Her work has been published in New York Times Magazine, I-D, Purple, Dazed & Confused, Fantastic Man, VOGUE, Another Magazine, V Magazine, Selfservice, Numéro, 10 and POP. Prestel published her books Parasomnia, In and Out of Fashion, Pikin Slee, Hot Mirror, and Umbra, which was chosen as one of the 25 best illustrated books in Germany in 2016.