Viviane Sassen

I just received a new photo book in the mail by Viviane Sassen entitled Flamboya, that I've been looking for a while now. Viviane Sassen was born in 1972, and is a Dutch photographer living and working in Amsterdam. She grew up in Africa, and this book is a product of that. Flamboya is full of hyperstylized imagery that is graphic, boldly colored, and a little bit surreal.

Here's a bit about Viviane's work in her own words:

I am interested in strong shapes and colors. I have always been attracted to a sort of graphic style. In Africa I thought the very harsh sun was something I should take advantage of. For most photographers it's horror. But I felt like, No, this is how it really is. 

In my photography you see a lot of transformed bodies, or faces that you can't really see. I like to create confusion and to make people to think... In a photo you always see the vision of the photographer translated. It's not objective, it's tainted.

 

What I love about Viviane's work is that she tends to treat the body like an element, an abstract shape with blocks of shadow and bright colors that seem like cut outs or paper collages. Bodies become bold, abstract and beautiful.


Here's a bit more of her commercial & editorial work:

I always thought the trickery & illusion on this campaign were also super clever.