Artist
Farren van Wyk
Farren van Wyk (1993) is a South African and Dutch photographer and educator. She holds a BA Degree in Photography and an MA Degree in Cultural and Visual Anthropology. She has a truly dual perspective on both her home countries, which is visible in her work. Her photographs show how she tries to come to terms with two sides of facing colonialism, the slave trade and apartheid.
Van Wyk is a member of the African Photojournalist Association with World Press Photo, Women Photograph and Black Women Photographers. Her work has been featured by the internationally based i-D, The Washington Post, Photo Vogue, Der Greif and The Times UK.
Mixedness is my Mythology
Mixedness is my Mythology explores the historical relationship between South Africa and the Netherlands that revolves around the connections and contradictions of migration, ethnicity, colonialism and apartheid. I was born in South Africa in 1993, the official last year of the apartheid era that classified me as Coloured. My grandparents were forcefully removed and my parents chose to raise me in The Netherlands from the age of six. Being born in South Africa and growing up in the Netherlands has created a point of intersectionality in which I bring South African, Dutch, African American and Black American cultural aspects together in images.
My family sits in a grey space where we deconstruct the apartheid construction of ‘colouredness’ and make it our own. Identity is personal and ours is undefined and undetermined as it incorporates multiple backgrounds thus inspiring me to make work with my family. The conscious choice of black-and-white analogue photography refers to the historical anthropological inhumane images of people of colour in South Africa that were used to support ideas on race and legalised oppression. Being neither black nor white, a person of colour is a shade of grey in which everything is possible. In this grey area, I use photography to reclaim and redefine what it means to be a person of colour. This body of work shows a reconciliation and acceptance of our mixed identity. By forging our iconography, we are creating our family’s mythology, thus it is an ode to being Coloured.
Die lewe is nie reg vir my nie
Due to the consequence of colonialism, slavery and apartheid inflicted by the Dutch in South Africa, the Coloured community has seen men evolving from police officers to gangsters. Die lewe is nie reg vir my nie explores the history of gang culture within the Coloured community of Schauderville. Schauderville was classified as a coloured area under apartheid and has not seen any changes after Mandela became the first democratically elected president in 1994. This body of work counters the perception of male violence and shows the deeper layers of it being a means of survival and brotherhood. Some men step into the gang as there are no real employment opportunities and others step out of the gang for a better future for their children. Being racially classified as Coloured myself and immigrating to The Netherlands at a young age, I use portraiture as a means to decolonize the unjust image of the community I was born into.
Hanane El Ouardani's powerful imagery confronts notions of memory and cultural erasure, prompting viewers to reflect on identity and belonging in a transnational world. Orbiting the subject of home, her project The Skies are Blue, The Walls are Red (2018) serves as a visual diary of diasporic identity, whilst her more recent series The Grass is Greener on the Other Side (2023 – ongoing) offers a revealing glimpse into Kuwait's socio-political landscape.
Gilleam Trapenberg’s project Currents (2022 – ongoing) also studies identity, revealing a complex and personal relationship with his island homeland of Curaçao. Throughout all his projects, Trapenberg delves beneath the alluring surfaces of Caribbean life, examining how mass tourism and colonial legacies have shaped distorted images of the region. Meanwhile, with New Suns (2018 – 2023) his approach is increasingly abstract, dissecting the evocative Caribbean sunset with almost scientific precision.
In Farren van Wyk's series Die lewe is nie reg vir my nie (2016 – ongoing), her focus turns to gang culture in Port Elizabeth’s Schauderville district, offering a nuanced portrayal that transcends common stereotypes. The project underlines how resilience and humanity remain a constant within the community, offering a means of survival and brotherhood.
Elsewhere, Prins de Vos' BOYS DO CRY (2014 – 2021) centres on the queer community, dismantling various taboos surrounding male vulnerability and transgender identity. With each intimate portrait of Levi, an artist and trans man, de Vos captures raw emotions and celebrates the power of self-expression.
Finally, Suzette Bousema's work takes the environment as its starting point. Her project Super Organism (2020 – 2022) studies mycorrhizal fungal networks that are crucial for our ecosystems, but threatened by human activity. Supported by scientific insight, the project highlights the valuable symbiosis of plants and fungi – inviting viewers into a multisensory connection with these hidden networks.