Awoiska van der Molen (born 1972) is a Dutch photographer, living in Amsterdam.[1] She has produced three books of black and white landscape photographs, made in remote places. Van der Molen has been shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize and the Prix Pictet, and her work is held in the collections of the Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Education edit

Van der Molen studied architecture and design at Academie Minerva in Groningen, Netherlands, then photography both there and at Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City.[1][2] In 2003 she gained an MFA in photography at Academy of Art and Design St. Joost in Breda, Netherlands.[1]

Work edit

Between 2000 and 2003, van der Molen made portraits of charismatic women she met on the streets of Manhattan, later switching to people judged by different criteria.[3] After that she turned to photographing anonymous buildings at the edge of the city.[3] Since 2009, she has concentrated on the natural world, travelling alone to remote places in order to make the work.[3][4][5] She makes black and white prints in her own darkroom.[4][5] Van der Molen's first book, Sequester (2014), "photographed throughout the whole of Europe"[6] including the volcanic Canary Islands,[5] contains monochromatic "landscapes, at times abstractly rendered to the point of dissolving into abstractions [. . . ] often obliterating all sense of the physical scale that was in front of the camera, many of them using very narrow ranges of tonality, from the blackest black to maybe a dark grey".[7] Blanco (2017) contains photographs of desolate landscapes and trees. The Living Mountain (2020) is "a book about land, solitude and the planet we inhabit."[8] Sean O'Hagan and Jörg Colberg have praised the quality of her prints.[5][7]

Publications edit

Books of work by van der Molen edit

  • Sequester. Amsterdam: FW, 2014. ISBN 978-94-90119-29-4. Edition of 750 copies.[5]
    • Second edition. Edition of 2000 copies.
  • Blanco. Amsterdam: FW, 2017. ISBN 978-94-90119-48-5. With a text by Arjen Mulder. Edition of 1500 copies.
  • The Living Mountain. Amsterdam: FW, 2020. ISBN 978-94-90119-88-1.[8]

Publications with contributions by van der Molen edit

  • De laatste fotograaf?. Breda, Netherlands: AKV/St. Joost, 2009.
  • Quickscan #01. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Nederlands Fotomuseum, 2010. Edited by Frits Gierstberg.
  • Hyeres 26th International Festival Photography catalogue. 2011. Edited by Raphaelle Stopin.
  • Alt+1000 High Altitude. By Nathalie Herschdorfer. 2011.
  • Fotoverhalen collection catalogue. The Hague, Netherlands: Fotomusem Den Haag, 2014. ISBN 9789462260177.
  • The Marseillaise collection catalogue. Fotomuseum Huis Marseille, 2014.
  • Hariban Award 2014. Kyoto: Benrido Collotype Atelier, 2014. With text in Japanese and English. Edition of 150 copies.
  • Object Onder / Object Below Sanders Collection. Amsterdam: Pieter & Marieke Sanders, 2015. ISBN 9783863358334.
  • The Grain of the Present. San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2017. With a text by Kim Beil. ISBN 9781597110006.
  • Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. 2017. ISBN 9780957618886.
  • Failed Images: Photography and its Counter-Practices. Leiden: E.J. van Alphen, 2019. ISBN 9789492095459.
  • Into the Woods: Trees in Photography. London: Thames & Hudson, 2019. ISBN 978-0500480533.

Exhibitions edit

Solo exhibitions edit

Group exhibitions edit

Collections edit

Awards edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Awoiska van der Molen". Prix Pictet. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Awoiska v/d Molen". Awoiska v/d Molen. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Awoiska van der Molen: Sensing the Landscape". Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b Nemett, Barry (31 March 2018). "Photographers Among the Trees, from Steichen to Bae Bien-U". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Bewitched by blackness: photographing the desolate beauty of the Canaries". The Guardian. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Interview with Awoiska van der Molen". FK. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  7. ^ a b Colberg, Jörg. "Awoiska van der Molen: Sequester". Conscientious Photography Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  8. ^ a b Feuerhelm, Brad (4 July 2020). "Awoiska van der Molen's The Living Mountain". American Suburb X. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. ^ Barron, Claire (22 January 2016). "Snapshot: 'Blanco' by Awoiska van der Molen". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Awoiska van der Molen exhibition at Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam". Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Into the woods: trees in photography". The Guardian. 15 November 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  12. ^ Durrant, Nancy. "Exhibition review: Into the Woods — Trees in Photography at the V&A". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Awoiska van der Molen". Huis Marseille. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Your Search Results". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  15. ^ Hariban Award 2014–2016 benrido-collotype.today
  16. ^ "Awoiska van der Molen". Pier 24 Photography. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Prix Pictet 2019 shortlist – photo essay". The Guardian. 5 July 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  18. ^ "Hope: Prix Pictet 2019, photographic competition shortlist selection". The Telegraph. 5 July 2019. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  19. ^ O’Hagan, Sean (13 November 2019). "Joana Choumali wins 2019 Prix Pictet photography prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  20. ^ "In pictures: Prix Pictet launches a virtual exhibition". New Statesman. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

External links edit