Since graduating, Janneke Van Leeuwen has created a new series of photographs called ‘Pressure Rooms’ which deals with the angst engendered by emerging from the world of education. ‘It’s about the pressure you feel after graduating, but also more in general, the pressure to be successful, to make something out of your life.’ We think she’ll have little trouble there; she has already been selected to exhibit at the Musee l’Elysee in summer 2010 and is busy selling her work. Van Leeuwen describes her style as ‘connected to Japanese aesthetics, in the sense that it’s so much about balance and detail in a minimal composition,’ but perhaps what resonates most strongly with her viewers is that she gets her inspiration from observing people in every day situations. ‘I work mostly around psychological themes – I have a masters in Neuropsychology. Although the themes I choose come from my own interest, I select them on the basis that I think they relate to general issues other people are also confronted with in life.’
Most influenced by:
Photographer Bernard Voita and video artist Saskia Olde Wolbers.
INFORMATION
PHOTOGRAPHY
School
Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam
Graduated
2009
