Hot Mirror

Hot Mirror, 2018

First Edition

Signed
PRESTEL 
Hardcover, Paperback with Jacket, 24x33cm, 95 color illustrations, 9 b/w illustrations, 160 pages

This mid-career retrospective volume focuses on Viviane Sassen’s fine art photography, revealing a surrealist undercurrent in her work. Sassen recognizes Surrealism as one of her earliest artistic influences, seen in the uncanny shadows, fragmented bodies, and otherworldly landscapes she captures in her work.

In addition to images from the acclaimed series "Umbra", this volume draws from the series "Flamboya", in which she returned to Kenya, "Parasomnia", a dreamlike exploration of sleep, the "Roxane" series, a mutual portrait created with her muse, Roxane Danset, "Of Mud and Lotus", a study of procreation and fecundity, and "Pikin Slee", a journey to a remote village in Suriname.

Throughout, Sassen emerges as a poetic photographer obsessed with light and shadow and a brilliant technician, who is a master of both vibrant color and muted hues. Selected by Sassen herself from across the last ten years, the images draw on the surrealist strategies of collage and unexpected juxtapositions to give a survey of her practice.

This book features a contextualizing essay and an insightful interview with the artist.