Blink. 100 photographers, 10 curators, 10 writers
- hardcover: 440 pages
- published by Phaidon Press (May 31, 2002)
- ISBN: 0714841994 (hardcover) / 0714844586 (paperback)
- 225 x 337 mm, 8 7/8 x 13 1/4 inches
- more info at phaidon.com
- buy the hardcover or paperback at www.amazon.com.
- Hellen van Meene can be found on pages 236-239: seven photos, a text by Paul Wombell (reproduced below) and a bio.
About the book
"BLINK presents the work of 100 of the world's most exciting contemporary photographers, selected by 10 international critics, curators and creative directors. An exhibition in a book, BLINK showcases up-and-coming talent from all corners of the globe, enabling the reader to stay one step ahead of emerging trends in the fast-changing world of photography. It acts as a unique reference tool for photographers, artists, designers and all those interested in contemporary culture and the image. BLINK also provides a rare insight into the deliberations of an esteemed, international panel of selectors - the 'experts' making key decisions about the future of photography.
Each curator was commissioned to choose ten photographers who have broken new ground on the international photography scene in the last four years. BLINK includes some acclaimed figures, such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Vik Muniz and Rineke Dijkstra, who the selectors believe are set to become household names over the next few years. Other photographers, such as Tomoko Isoda, Shirana Shahbazi and Marc Asnin, are gaining recognition for their innovative work and are about to emerge internationally. The photographers' pages are listed in A-Z order, featuring two double-page spreads of recent, exemplary images, a short explanatory text from the curator, and biographical information.
In a series of ten essays written especially for this publication, the curators describe their decision-making process and reflect on the nature of contemporary photographic practice. In addition to the photographers, each curator has chosen an extract written since 1995 which they feel best illustrates the cultural context surrounding contemporary photography. The ten works reproduced in the book range from cultural studies to fiction, from criticism to journalism.
BLINK takes its place in a series of surveys identifying 100 of the most interesting, cutting-edge practitioners of key art forms. Earlier surveys include cream and Fresh Cream: Contemporary Art in Culture and 10x10: 10 critics, 100 architects. BLINK is an exciting event in the world of photography, and, like its precursors, is set to become a much sought-after collector's item."
From: www.phaidon.com
Paul Wombell on Hellen van Meene (p. 237)
What moments are being played out in Hellen van Meene's photographic portraits of adolescent girls? Playfulness, vulnerability, pain and growing sexuality? Yes, all these, but much more.
Van Meene finds her collaborators in her home town of Alkmaar in the Netherlands and more recently also in Japan. They may be friends or girls she has encountered in shops or on the street. They are invited to participate in the ritual of the formal portrait. Though to call them portraits is misleading because Van Meene is not aiming to create a likeness of the subject - she has other motives. Working more like a film director, in that the young girls are acting out a role in front of the camera, Van Meene works on their pose.
These photographs are experiments in boredom or, to be precise, the moment when boredom turns to melancholy. These are moments when the flexibility of body and the threshold of pain are tested. The body is stretched into new positions and placed against something hard to see how it marks. There may be also moments when the body loses control and other forces take over.
Where do these images come from? Although there are references to other pictorial traditions, Dutch painting and various photographic practices, Hellen van Meene is essentially making these images in response to her memories and imagination. Each photographic portrait is then her self-portrait.
Paul Wombell