Awoiska van der Molen
Exhibition
Awoiska van der Molen
Exhibition: 7-30 April 2016
Opening: 7 April, 6pm – 9pm
Photobook Melbourne presents our first solo show for 2016: internationally renowned Dutch photographer, Awoiska van der Molen.
Awoiska’s monochrome photo work is the result of long periods of isolation in which she penetrates into the essence of the remote world in which her photographs are created. She takes the time to experience the landscape in a new manner, beyond first appearances.
As someone who remains rooted in the riches of analogue photography, Van der Molen’s work could be understood as a metaphysical quest, a journey to the essence of being, only completed by hand-printing the Baryta prints in the dark room. Her baryta prints contain mysterious contrasts between darkness and light. Notions of time, day and night seem non-existent.
“While her prints invite the viewer to be seduced into the world they create, they do so not by virtue of picturesque exploitation of the sublime, nor through spectacular representation, but by existing as very present, physical objects within which an alternative existence is created.”
– Oliver Gapper, PhotoMonitor
Awoiska will exhibit a selection of her latest work exclusively for Photobook Melbourne and for the first time in Australia at Boyd School Studios as part of our 2016 residency. We couldn’t be more delighted to host Awoiska in Melbourne and introduce our growing photography community to her exquisite work.
About the artist
Awoiska van der Molen studied architecture and photography at the Academy of fine Arts Minerva in Groningen (NL). In 2000 she was a participant at the photography department at the City University of New York and graduated in 2003 at the MFA Photographic studies at the St.Joost Academy Breda (NL). In 2011 she was a finalist at the Hyères Festival International de Photography in France and in the same year she has won the Alt. + 1000 prize at the Festival de la Photography de la Montagne in Rossinière, CH. In 2014 van der Molen collaborated with Benrido collotype printmasters in Kyoto after receiving the Japanese Hariban Award. Van der Molen’s work has been exhibited in different countries in photo museums and institutions. Early 2016 she held her first museum-based solo exhibition in Foam fotomuseum Amsterdam.
Her first monograph ‘Sequester’ was nominated for the Paris Photo / Aperture First Book Prize and won the Silver Medal at ‘The Most Beautiful Books of the World” in Leipzig.
Photobook Melbourne is supported by: City of Melbourne, Creative Spaces and Momento Pro.
