Artist Statement
In my photography I research spaces in which you don’t feel connected to a specific place or time. It is a conflicting feeling that certain places evoke inside of me. In my work I capture the experience of being disconnected with a physical space.
Over the past years I photographed interiors you encounter in random places: the dead corners in office buildings, waiting rooms in airports or the empty corridors in hotels. They are spaces that lack a connection with the outside world. This makes it unclear as to what the function of this particular space is; where on earth it is situated or what time it is. This lack of references adds something unsettling to these spaces and they appear to be situated beyond your consciousness. The feeling of estrangement and disconnection touches the essence of my work.
Process Statement
Since a few years I have been deforming the spaces in a vacant office building myself. I investigate whether I can reconstruct certain qualities of interiors I photographed previously in a more simplified way. I let the aspects in the interior guide me and that is the starting point of my work. I work with materials I encounter in the spaces I portray. Rather than existing architecture, this way of working enables more psychological spaces to appear that convey the feeling of disconnection in a more personal and profound manner. For instance, by creating spaces within spaces or by showing several layers of walls I can suggest the presence of various dimensions within a space. The images create a place with something in between reality and illusion. As if there is a gap between seeing what is there and what is not.
Marleen Sleeuwits was born on 23 June 1980 in Enschede. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, she continued her Master Photography programme at AKV/St. Joost in Breda, which she rounded off in 2005. She now lives and works in The Hague.
Marleen Sleeuwits’ photographic work focuses on the urban environment and investigates the sense of being disconnected from such locations. It is a conflicting feeling that is evoked by certain spaces in the city. A feeling as if you are disconnected from the actual location and moment, but simultaneously experience its beauty. Sleeuwits’ style is characterised by a detached approach with a pronounced sense of light, colour and composition.
She is represented by LhGWR in The Hague, The Netherlands and Gallery FeldbuschWiesner in Berlin. Her photos also have been shown in, among other places, MKgalerie in Rotterdam and Berlin, Hyeres Photofestival in France, Breda Photo, Galerie Kunstagenten, Berlin, Brno House of Arts In The Czech Republic, Foto Festival Naarden, Nieuwe Vide Haarlem, Photo Levallois in Paris, Jarach Gallery in Venice and at the Jeonju Photofestival in South Korea.
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