portrait
Girls somewhere between the innocent world of childhood and the world of desire and
adolescent beauty; young women and men under physical and psychological stress: hellen van
meene and bettina von zwehl take photographs of "normal" young people in
particular situations. They both search for new definitions to describe the borderline
between reality and fiction, and define the role of the photographer towards her model. As
artists they succeed in bringing new elements to portrait photography. Their need to go
beyond mere imagery is found in the way they each tell a story through their models and
through their precise manipulation of the setting.
hellen van meene's small color photographs portray girls at an age
between puberty and adolescence in a context of playful nudity and eroticism. The scene,
the place and the clothing are choosen with care by the artist and contrast strongly with
the frank realism with which the girls are depicted. hellen photographs with natutural
light, and does not make any effort to conceal imperfections. On the contrary, faces with
acne, crooked teeth, a chubby girl with a bare belly, a wet blouse with a breast showing
through, all reveal a deeper reality made up of imperfections, desire and vulnerablity.
hellen van meene, born in 1972 in Alkmaar, the Netherlands: lives in
Alkmaar, The Netherlands; 1992-1996 Gerrit Rietveld Academie of Amsterdam; 1995 College of
Art, Edinburgh; a selection of individual shows: 1998 Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam;
1999 The Photographer's Gallery, London; 2000 De Kabinetten van de Vleeshal, Middelburg,
The Netherlands; a selection of group shows: 1996 "Scanning", Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam; 1999 "Conditions Humaines, Portraits Intimes", Mois de la Photo,
Montreal.
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