About
Vera van Almen is a Dutch artist born in 1986. based in
’s-Hertogenbosch, in the south of the Netherlands. She graduated at the Photo Academy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2017. While studying photography, she started experimenting more and more with photography, pushing the boundaries of the medium. Her digital camera was soon exchanged for an analogue camera, supplemented by an old-fashioned Polaroid camera. This became her favourite. She discovered the charm of allowing chance and the imperfections that come with it. The urge to experiment remained and soon she started trying out different printing techniques in the darkroom, which proved to be a pivotal moment in her artistic journey. Having to act physically to achieve images became a necessity in her process. She has since abandoned the camera entirely and now creates her images camera-less.
Artist statement
My work operates at the intersection of absence and presence, exploring the intangible and inviting a confrontation with the unknown. By rejecting traditional photographic methods and working without a camera, I challenge notions of control and authorship, allowing contingency, chance, and unpredictability to shape the outcome. This process-driven approach transforms uncertainty into a fundamental aspect of my practice, where images emerge as abstractions, untethered from literal representation.
Rather than offering clear narratives or definitive answers, my art asks questions—of the viewer, of perception, and of existence itself. It seeks to create a space where absence is felt as presence, where emptiness holds potential, and where beauty is found in the ambiguity of the ungraspable. My work reflects a longing for something beyond comprehension, a fleeting connection to the sublime that resists rational explanation.
In a time dominated by precision, resolution, and perfection, my art embraces imperfection and invites viewers to engage with the ephemeral and the incomplete. It challenges the compulsion to categorize or resolve, instead offering a meditative experience that dissolves the boundary between seeing and feeling. By contemplating what is unseen and unknowable, my work opens a dialogue about the limits of understanding and the power of imagination.
This is an invitation—not merely to view, but to participate. To slow down, reflect, and inhabit the spaces between certainty and mystery. In doing so, I aim to create a moment of resonance: a reminder that the unknown is not something to fear, but a profound source of connection, beauty, and meaning.
Longing
for a place
you have never been
Longing
for a time
you do not know
Coming home
to a place
you have never been
Feeling akin
to somenone
you do not know
Losing
an other me
Feeling nothing
is that feeling something?
I did not know
that nothing
can be everything
Text by Vera van Almen
Upcoming
12 - 15 December 2024 Art Antwerp with IN-DEPENDANCE / IBASHO Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
Education
2022-2023 Le Masterklass with Klavdij Sluban, Paris (FR)
2020-2021 Masterclass with Machiel Botman, Haarlem (NL)
2016-2017 Photo Academy, Amsterdam (NL)
2010-2012 Photo Academy, Rotterdam (NL)
Exhibitions
2024 ‘Where Silence Meets Me’, IN-DEPENDANCE by IBASHO Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
2024 Solo exhibition ‘In Absence’, Salon unRepresented by a ppr oc he, Paris (FR)
2024 Book Launch and Solo Exhibition Artist Book '57', Bob Manders Architecture, Art by Robert, Oisterwijk (NL)
2023 Preview Artist Book '57', De Gruyterfabriek, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2021 Landelijk Atelierweekend, De Gruyterfabriek, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2019 Landelijk Atelierweekend, De Gruyterfabriek, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2019 Group exhibition Chapter6, WG Kunst, Amsterdam (NL)
2018 Best of Class, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam (NL)
2018 Canova Prize NYC18, 393 NYC Broadway, New York (USA)
2017 ROMART 2017 Biennale Internationale di Arte e Cultura, Stadio di Domiziano, Rome (IT)
2017 New Dutch Photography Talent 2018, 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam (NL)
2017 REVEAL Graduation Exhibition Photo Academy, Gallery Photo Academy, Amsterdam (NL)
2017 REVEAL Graduation Exhibition Photo Academy, Loods 6, Amsterdam (NL)
2016 Kunst & Design, De Gruyterfabriek, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2015 Revela-T photography festival, Barcelona (ES)
2015 Kunst @ Orthenstraat, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2015 Kunst & Design, De Gruyterfabriek, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2012 Het Oog, Gallery Photo Academy, Rotterdam (NL)
2011 Fotogram Award 2011, Fotogram, Amsterdam (NL)
Exhibition catalogues
2018 Canova Prize / International Contemporary Art Award New York 2018 (USA)
2017 ROMART 2017 Biennale Internationale di Arte e Cultura (IT)
2017 REVEAL - Fotoacademie graduation catalogue (NL)
Publication
2023 Artist Book ‘57’, self published
2019 Aesthetica Magazine (UK)
2019 Fresh Eyes European Photography Talent 2019, book by GUP Magazine (NL)
2017 New Dutch Photography Talent 2018, book by GUP Magazine (NL)
Awards and recognitions
2019 Fresh Eyes European Photography Talent 2019 (NL)
2018 Canova Prize NYC18 Shortlist (USA)
2017 ROMART 2017 Biennale Internationale di Arte e Cultura Shortlist (IT)
2017 IPA 2017, Honorable Mention, Fine Art: Nudes Category (USA)
2017 New Dutch Photography Talent 2018 (NL)
2011 Fotogram Award 2011, overall winner (NL)