Apart from the fact that they are all photographers, what is the common denominator between Jan-Hendrik Smeenge, Anouk de Kleermaeker, Deana Nastic, Maria Bodil and Werner Anderson? Well, two things: they are all wonderful human beings, and they are all passionate. Passionate about photography, and passionate about the way they approach their art. That is one of the things that strikes me most about Hungry Eye Fair: its diversity. All genres, all styles, and yet the same shared passion. And it shows. The atmosphere was such that the passion in the Kromhouthal was almost palpable, throughout.
Jan-Hendrik Smeenge approaches photography as a form of visual inquiry, using fragmentation and shifts in perspective to challenge the way we perceive and organise reality. Rather than providing definitive answers, his work leaves room for ambiguity and intuition, allowing meaning to emerge through our own perception, memory and emotional response. His patchworks of colour and black and white leave many questions unanswered.
Anouk de Kleermaeker is one of a kind. A painter, a photographer, all of the above, and with style. My connection with her and her work was immediate. Her still lifes, inspired by the painterly perfection of the Old Masters of the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age, radiate peace, elegance, harmony and timelessness, inviting us to pause and reconnect with the here and now. Talking to her is equally inspiring and motivating. She is a unique human being with immense talent: A painter with a camera. I was particularly charmed by her Green Cabbage and Grapes and Avocados.
Deana Nastic is a character with a story. Serbian from Canada, or Canadian from Serbia. I am still not entirely sure which way around she would put it. She loves the south of France and would happily make it her home. She feels more connected to Europe than to North America, and she makes no secret of it. Her work is fluid, lyrical, magical, intimate, soft and stylish, a rather good representation of who she is, I believe.
I did not actually meet Maria Bodil. In this case, Maria Bodil is in fact the combination of two ladies, Lieve Maria Eek and Marthe Bodil Vos, who work together, combining photography and AI to create new shapes and visions of the human body. Their large photographs, presented in glorious full colour, had an undeniable magnetic quality. They drew my attention from across the room.
And then there is Werner Anderson. I was immediately drawn to his unique series Pilgrim, because of the unity of style and the palpable serenity that emanates from these delicate images, bathed in bright yellows, golds and painted surfaces. There is something remarkably peaceful about them. The man himself is a true artist: quiet, charming, carefully weighing his words, and yet expressing so much through his photographs. Reading about his life and his work brings everything together and gives the images an even deeper meaning. Who said Norway was a dark and cold place? Standing there with Werner, surrounded by his photographs, I saw nothing but light and warmth.
