Short project motivations on the Somfy Photography Award 2018 theme: ‘My Space, My Place’

Verena Blok
Verena Blok wants to portray the way that teenagers growing up in a boarding school in Poland relate to each other. These temporary living spaces are the framework within which the teenagers become young adults, and where Verena will photograph them. Her subtitle is: Internat – boarding schools in Poland.

Alexandra Hunts
In her project, Alexandra Hunts focuses on the colour of light. Our perception of reality is determined by the colour prism and the temperature of the light. With cool light, we feel out of place more quickly than we do with warmer light. Hunts investigates the role that light plays in social relations and everyday life. She does this by combining photography – which is, after all, writing with light – with solar shading, the instrument for blocking or filtering light, as well as for making a distinction between indoors and outdoors, public and private.

Stephan Keppel
Stephen Keppel is working with graphic designer Hans Gremmen to create his interpretation of My Space, My Place. His works are always based on the fringes of architecture and urban development, for example by focusing on second-hand materials, including building materials. His project is subtitled: Flat Finish, New York. The proposal promises a physical and photographic accumulation of images, materials and structures.

Marleen Sleeuwits
Marleen Sleeuwits is fascinated by buildings that lack a clear identity. These types of buildings are often adapted every so often to meet the needs and requirements of the time. Take Hoog Catharijne, for example. There is no time for the memories, individuality and identity to develop. Sleeuwits gives us a new look at spaces and materials, by for example removing walls or floors from places in and around the Utrecht station area from their functional context, and displaying them in a completely different way. Transformation could be her project’s subtitle.