ISABELLE VAN ZEIJL

In her photographs, Isabelle Van Zeijl uses beauty as a sort of armor against the abuse she suffered as a child, as well as the misogyny she encounters in the world today. She states, "I ask myself what type of human do I need to forge myself into. How can I use my burden to bring light and make a change in the world? So I decided to turn my eye to all that is beautiful around me."

Van Ziejil creates luscious self-portraits dripping in flowers, draped in rich fabrics, or covered in clay. In every work, Van Ziejil serves as a model, set-designer, make-up artist, and photographer. Often depicted kneeling, Van Ziejil gazes at the camera over her shoulder with a fierce stare that combines the strength and vulnerability she feels as a woman. As a result, Van Zeijl would have you question both historical and 21st-century concepts of beauty. Many of her photographs resemble portraits of women painted by Old Masters, especially Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. These self-portraits remind us of historic female archetypes and bring to mind a mysterious beauty that we would typically associate with the classical age of portraiture. However, Van Ziejil perverts the submissive femininity of the form by photographing her own body nude, and in post-production, making it androgynous by removing her breasts. Van Ziejil has collaborated with designers including Iris Van Herpen and Claes Iversen and Dutch flower growers negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic to create her unique compositions. Van Zeijl lives and works in the Netherlands.