What to spot at Unseen 2024

Unseen Photo Fair will once again transform the iconic Westergas site into a captivating hub: here’s a preview

Unseen Photo Fair returns for its twelfth edition at Westergas in Amsterdam, with “a truly global perspective on the latest developments in contemporary photography again,” Founding Director Roderick van der Lee says. Der Greif is thrilled to explore some of our community artists that are exhibiting this year, presented by young and established galleries – for a total of seventy one exhibitors this year. Look out for Johno Mellish at The Bridge Gallery booth; Irina Magurean’s works presented by Camera.Cluj; and Hans van Asch at Gallery Untitled. Also spot Julie van der Vaart at Galerie Wilms and Melissa Schriek’s photographs of human bodies co-creating forms with built environments, shown by Hama Gallery.

Games and choreographies in urban settings

Dutch photographer Melissa Schriek participates at this year’s Unseen Fair with an acclaimed project: “The City Is a Choreography”. It represents a breadth of photographic responses to contemporary cities to reflect a new approach to connection when it becomes hard to feel close to each other and to the environment itself in the alienating cities of today. Expressing freedom of inhabiting a space that’s politically public, each photo explores the sculptural quality of the human body and the possibilities of co-creating with the built environment of the everyday.

Fictional narratives in staged photographs at Unseen

South African artist Johno Mellish brings his photographic mise-en-scènes to Unseen Fair, following last year’s presentation with The Bridge Gallery. Sourcing imagery from both traditional media channels and vernacular photographs, he composes fictional narratives which mirror our post-truth, fragmented, and data-driven society. Likewise, Hans van Asch works, presented by Gallery Untitled, center on the process of imagining new worlds through the recomposition of familiar objects and birds. Staged photographs still retain their fascination: by remixing real events and objects, they play with meaningful and meaningless representations.

Beyond the human-nature dichotomy

Julie Van der Vaart's photographic archive is a collection of different series showcasing nudes and abstract images. Through experimental techniques and the use of darkroom chemicals, Van der Vaart captures the true essence of photography. Her work explores the interplay between presence, traces, and absences, creating a visual representation of time that transcends its linear nature. By merging the human body with natural landscapes, Van der Vaart's photographs become timeless, capturing the convergence of the physical and the ethereal.