Photographers
Hot Mirror: Viviane Sassen at the Hepworth Wakefield
PhotocriticEtc© Viviane Sassen, Untitled from Roxane II, 086, series Roxane II 2017. Courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
Straddling both the fashion and fine art worlds, Viviane Sassen is one of the most innovative photographers working today.
For Hot Mirror, Sassen will select individual images from her notable art photography series of the last ten years, as well as new photographs and collages. These selections will be combined to create ‘image-poems’ that draw on the Surrealist strategies of collage, offering new and unexpected juxtapositions.
Sassen cites Surrealism as one of her earliest artistic influences, seen in the uncanny shadows, fragmented bodies and dream-like landscapes in her work. Timed to sit alongside The Hepworth Wakefield’s exhibition exploring Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, Hot Mirror will highlight the Surrealist themes in her work.
Hot Mirror will also present a new version of Sassen’s immersive film installation, Totem (2014), images from her celebrated Flamboya series, shot in Kenya, work from Parasomnia, an exploration of illusions, evocative of the dream-like state between waking and sleep; the Roxane books, Pikin Slee, and UMBRA, a meditation on the interpretative power of shadows.
Hot Mirror will run alongside Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain at The Hepworth Wakefield from 22 June until 7 October 2018. Admission is free.
