Artist
Gilleam Trapenberg
Born in 1991 in Willemstad, Curaçao
Lives and Works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Gilleam Trapenberg (1991, Willemstad, Curaçao) moved to the Netherlands at the age of nineteen and graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2017. He participated in multiple group exhibitions, such as In The Presence of Absence at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2020). In 2017 he published his first photo book Big Papi and in 2018 he was one of the nominees for the Foam Paul Huf Award. He’s the fourth recipient of the Florentine Riem Vis grant (2020). His first solo exhibition at Foam, Amsterdam opened in 2021. Gilleam Trapenberg lives and works in Amsterdam. Through his work, Trapenberg reflects on the contradictions that are part of the social landscape in Curaçao, were the idea of a utopian paradise is diametrically opposed to the realities of post-colonialism and tourism. He explores stereotypes and tropes that have manifested themselves through social culture and the Western media.
New Suns
Pictured in the glossy brochures of a travel agent, or recreated in the gradient hues of a poolside cocktail, the Caribbean sunset is an inescapable symbol of the wider region – recorded over and over, then repeatedly deployed. Started with a dose of chance, Gilleam Trapenberg’s New Suns became an almost scientific visual experiment; a study of colour to inspect a dominant image, imparting it with new and personal meaning.
After a golden hour photoshoot in Curaçao – for an unrelated project – Trapenberg instinctively filled his film roll, capturing several impressions of the setting sun as an abstract ball of light. Blown out and overexposed, the images were unusable, but the corresponding negatives retained more creative potential.
Back in Amsterdam, this material formed the basis of New Suns, its hazy shapes and light leaks reconfigured in a spectrum of enticing shades. Produced methodically over the course of a homesick winter, Trapenberg’s suns form a calendar of sorts, charting the nostalgic longing that comes with distance, In warm reds and oranges or cooler blues and greens, each sun oozes contradiction: probing at a familiar Caribbean fantasy, they simultaneously reveal the artist’s own susceptibility to it.
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.