Here*Now was selected for the Photobook Exhibition in 2018 Athens Photo Festival
The most beautiful photographs taken by Vanessa van Houten using Leica CL camera
Here*Now are photographs of sex workers, famous musicians, and the LGBTQ in Indonesia among others
Vanessa van Houten photographed over fifty Indonesians whom she hardly knew before –women, men, warias (cross-dressers, transsexuals and transgenders) aged between 20 and 80 years old using natural light with her Leica SL camera.
Van Houten photographed passionate chefs and baristas, young entrepreneurs, accomplished athletes, mothers, fathers, loved social influencers, dancers, beautiful yogis, makeup artists, sex workers, famous musicians, popular artists and talented fashion designers.
During the photoshoot only the person being photographed and Vanessa would be in the room.
She wuld ask each person to think about their own for 50 minutes without talking and invited them to behave in the area provided as if they were at home.
Each had complete freedom: to move, to sit, to stand. What they did with their hands, feet and hair was their own choice.
For almost an hour, individuals silently focused their thoughts about inner beauty and their own core values. They went into their past to think about who and what was, or is, an influence on their lives. Straight afterwards everyone wrote one page about their
Vanessa van Houten photographed each person twice; once in their favorite clothes and once almost bare in a white cloth, made especially for this project, by Chitra Subiyakto, the creative soul of Indonesian fashion and textile house Sejauh Mata Memandang.
The dots on the material were inspired by a Balinese tradition where rice kernels are stuck to the forehead while praying.
For each person the white cloth took on different meanings.
Each used it to cover their body and head in their own way. There is truth and beauty when taking off clothes, revealing skin with all its scars, tattoos, birthmarks and shades, as well as stored emotions.
In a time where many talk about diversity and differences, Vanessa van Houten was keen to examine what binds us together.
The sessions, and the photographs, that resulted provide a glimpse into the lives of the people we are surrounded by.
Even if we don’t know each other we all live in the same city, we all stand on the same ground and breathe the same air.
