In my portraits you can see young adults of our time. A time where, through social media, we create images of ourselves that connect as closely as possible with what the other person wants to see.
Social media and commerce even influence the way we look at ourselves. We often have other people in mind when we look at our reflections. By omitting superficial characteristics, such as taking a pose, tapping your lips, and applying filters, you automatically create space to look at the person who they are.
In my photography, I want to show that person even more strongly. In these portraits, I did that by putting them in a different time. It may be difficult to understand exactly which time I placed them based on the atmosphere that I applied in the portraits. It could be the fifties, but my main concern is that it evokes an image of a different time, of timelessness. And most of all, you can see that they are unique.
About Suzette Luiken
Suzette Luiken graduated in 1999 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Breda in the direction of photography. After her graduation, she started working in a youth institution as an activity supervisor specialized in photography. In 2013 Suzette started photographing again and specialized in portrait photography. The experiences with working with young people made it increasingly clear to her what she is looking for in her photography.
The origins of each new portrait start for Suzette with a genuine interest and curiosity about the person who stands in front of her. A way of connecting that she also puts first in her work with young people. Her experiences in the youth institution have made Suzette believe more and more in the purity of each individual and the need to speak to each other. For her, visual language is the language that makes it possible, the literal appeal to the beauty in the other.A search starts for the image of the person, who shows us the space where you can and may be yourself, both for the person in the photo, the photographer and the spectator. A fictional space where you can step into every moment.
Freedom that we give each other, allow each other to practice in life. And that practice requires extra space for adolescence in young people. For Suzette, beauty is not about ‘being beautiful’, but about freedom, experiment, research and also coincidence, surprise. Not only the product, but the process that arises between model and Suzette as a photographer is very important. In her conviction, in the chaos of the world around us, she seeks silence and purity to come to the imagination of existential, timeless subjects. People often refer to her work as ‘a silence’. A moment of silence. For Suzette this is ‘the silence beyond the language’ that shows itself. The daylight in the photo reinforces that silence. It is therefore not the silence of absence but silence of solidarity, an attention, a lightening of your value.
Suzette exhibits her photo works in various places to give her work a stage. A stage that connects to the topics in her images. She participates in photo competitions so that her work is seen nationally and internationally. She transfers the knowledge and skills she has gained to trainees or in workshops.Suzette Luiken was chosen as finalist at LensCulture Portraits awards 2018 and finalist of the PHM 2018 Women Photographers Grant 2018. On the shortlist as one of the best entries at FotoRoom. In 2017 she was a finalist and nominated for Child Photo Competition. Her work has been published in SHOTS magazine, AAP magazine and Elsevier magazine. [Official Website]
