The Fashion Photography of Viviane Sassen

Ever since I saw her work at MoMA’s New Photography show last year, Viviane Sassen has quickly become one of my favorite photographers working today. So I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I haven’t seen much of her fashion photography. Time Lightbox has a nice write up featuring this work, on the occasion of a show in Amsterdam entitled “In and Out of Fashion” (there is also a new book of the same name available).

Her fashion work is very similar to her dreamy, hallucinatory work in Africa (Sassen was born in Amsterdam, but lived in Kenya between the ages of two and five). Her bold use of color feels particularly at home in her fashion work. And yet, Sassen considers her fashion photography to be entirely separate from her fine art projects. “Art photography doesn’t have to serve any purpose, fashion photography does, and that makes a difference,” she told Lightbox. “When you’re working on fashion campaigns for a commercial brand it’s often much less experimental, but still creative in the sense that you have to match the pieces of a puzzle.”

The show is up in Amsterdam at the Museum Voor Fotografie through March 13.