Wendelien Daan

The work of Wendelien Daan takes you into a world in which people and everyday objects can sometimes take on a peculiar form. A detachment can be felt, which at once captivates and makes one feel uneasy. It is the world in which seemingly familiar and everyday elements can sometimes evoke a feeling of alarm. The women in the photographs are all attractive, yet in one way or another they do not seem to want to present themselves to you as women of flesh and blood. They are very surreal. They seem to be continuously trying to withdraw from our world. This feeling is perhaps even reinforced by a certain kind of imperfection. Daan shows herself to be inspired by the interplay between light and darkness, since it is in the shadows that a multitude of exciting things can happen. However, Daan never pushes us towards a particular meaning, nor does she point out a ‘truth’ .We are allowed to make our own associations when looking at the visual ‘keys’ that she hands to us. It is the combination of all these elements, the love of storytelling, the quest for scope for the imagination and the absurd in combination with a clear visual language – recognised internationally as Dutch – that makes the work of Wendelien Daan so personal.