Jantien de Bruin
photography
Jantien de Bruin (1971) works as documentary and autonomous photographer and filmmaker. She uses the surroundings to give her work a documentary atmosphere. Her personal touch makes it autonomous.
Her work is often described as “subdued and with an obvious historical context”. Snapshots with a nostalgic and melancholic impression. Like time has stopped for a second, making the past tangible and the future temporarily unimaginable.
Atmosphere is an important aspect. Not that the images are always intimate. They are often a mix of intimacy and distance, a personal and at the same time universal feeling. Sometimes shooting images give her an uncomfortable feeling.: “While walking past, you experience the surroundings but are not quite sure exactly what is happening. By creating contact, my role as a stranger is suddenly replaced by another one. That moment, the tension, the elusiveness inspires me to capture this in images.
Jantien de Bruin sees herself as artist in residence. As somebody who is temporarily part of a situation in order to watch and observe – as outsider but with a good sense of what is going on. Besides photography she also makes films and photo stories. “Adding moving pictures adds another layer to what I am trying to portray.“
An important theme in her work is the memory, of for example childhood. Memories that are unclear and missing foundation. This is predominantly founded on desire. Other themes are feeling safe or secure, in a self created reality.
Jantien de Bruin lives and works in Arnhem.
For more information or acquisition contact roos@artvisor.nl or +31 6 55 36 09 19.