Viviane Sassen‘s Archive is the gift that keeps on giving. And the Dutch artist has been digging a lot lately. Last year,Self-portraits 1989–1999an insightful look into the psyche of a young woman who is reclaiming her image. This summer, Sassen published Folio with Note Note Éditions, which presents her “birth” as a photographer. “It was a time of experimentation, of trial and error, of trying out different styles and techniques,” She tells AnOther from her studio in Amsterdam. These photos, which first appeared in her first handmade photo book in 1996, were taken when Sassen was doing a master’s in photography after graduating from the Arnhem Art School. “Everything I had been taught was questioned that year.”
15Folio by Viviane Sassen
Since then, Sassen has been considered a leading figure in fashion photography and has expanded the industry’s visual language with her surreal and illusory productions. (The artist is a regular collaborator of AnOther and Another Man.) The roots of her work lie in Folioillustrated by the artist’s skilful use of light, framing and perspective. Flipping through the pages – which alternate between full size, half size and three-quarter size – one encounters the musings of an artist exploring her inner and outer worlds, with only the camera connecting the two worlds.
Below, Viviane Sassen talks about touch, eternity and the colour green.
Alessandro Merola: What were the 90s like for you?
Viviane Sassen: It was an exciting decade that moved away from the metallic, airbrushed hyper-glamour of the 80s. It was the era of grunge, which was much more down to earth and had a strong DIY mentality. My colleagues and I organized our own exhibitions in squats and published fanzines to get our work out into the world. It was about doing a fashion shoot in the kitchen with friends and just pointing and shooting.
AM: Throughout the book you can find references to how you would later develop your ideas about the human form, particularly in a sculptural sense.
VS: I definitely tried to develop my own personal style. It was the first time I consciously started working with the body and its deformations. It was shortly after my father died and I was still struggling with that loss. I think the fact that he was a doctor is somehow reflected in the images.
AM: Subconsciously? When you see so many photos of hands, you get the feeling that touch can be both healing and deadly at the same time.
VS: Yes. I think these early works already contain the ambiguity I have always striven for… The paradox of love and death. Most of the hands in these paintings are mine, especially the ones up close. They have a very personal meaning for me. I will read you what I wrote in the book: “Shortly after my father died, I had a dream about a hand. I was walking across a large field when I suddenly saw a hand lying in front of me in the wet grass. As I bent down to pick up the hand, I suddenly noticed that my own hand was missing and I could not grasp it. I had to get on my knees and clumsily hold it with both arms. I realized that it was my own hand that was missing.”
The hands represent my father. When I lost him, it was as if I had lost my right hand.
AM: Do you think it is important for artists to engage with their early works?
VS: To be honest, I don’t have a strong opinion on this. I think it’s entirely up to the artist. I understand that some artists are hesitant to show their early work. We all change over time and sometimes (or often!) can’t relate to what we’ve done before. In my case, it was interesting to stumble upon this work by chance because I could see quite a few elements in it that came to bear in various parts of my later work. In that sense, I think it’s not so relevant whether the work is “good” or not.
AM: There are many shades of green in the book, and I even noticed that the font of your emails is light green! What is your relationship to this color?
VS: Haha, yes! I have very vivid memories of walking through the mint green corridors of the local hospital where my father worked as a doctor as a young girl in Kenya, and I still remember him wearing green coats and trousers when he had to operate. Somehow green is also associated with the smell of Dettol that always fills these hallways. Furthermore, green also represents nature. Nature can be as cruel and toxic as it is beautiful.
“I have learned to accept the darkness within me. I feel much lighter than before” – Viviane Sassen
AM: Which books particularly impressed you in the 90s?
VS: I actually founded a literary magazine called Free State of Austerlitz with my friends. I read a lot of Bret Easton Ellis and titles like Trainspotting And The virgin suicidesI also remember the I Ching very inspiring for me, along with Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot and also the mythological books of Joseph Campbell.
AM: Shall we go through some of the words from the Abecedarium at the back of the book?
VS: Yes!
AM: Orca.
VS: That was the name of our German Shepherd in Kenya. She was part of the house and was very sweet and patient. She gave birth to seven puppies, all of which died of tick fever. I was devastated.
VS: As Carl Jung said, The Trickster archetype is a “collective shadowy figure, a summation of all the inferior traits of individuals…” I love that. A powerful creative force, neither male nor female, and essentially ambiguous.
AM: Eternity.
VS: Something that is unfathomable to the human mind. It has something to do with death and cold, with dark space, the things that have made me panic for a long time. These existential fears will not leave me completely, I fear, but I have learned to accept the darkness within me. I feel much lighter than I used to.
Folio by Viviane Sassen is published by Note Note Éditions and is available now.
