Hellen van Meene - Japan Series

12 January - 10 March 2002

Helen van Meene: Untitled, C-print, 1999, 39 x 39 cm

This exhibition was Hellen van Meene's first solo exhibition in the UK outside of London. Born in the Netherlands in 1972, Hellen established a reputation after exhibitions in New York, Tokyo and London. She has been compared to major female figures in the history of photography including Diane Arbus, Sally Mann and Julia Margaret Cameron.

Hellen van Meene's Japan Series is a set of thirty-one studies of youthful Japanese girls in usually domestic or sparse landscapes. This series represented a subtle departure for van Meene as her body of work up to this point has concentrated on European girls close enough in age to the artist. The Japan series sees a distancing taking place where van Meene, at the time in her late twenties, became disconnected both by age and nationality. The results revealed a close affection for girls in the transitory zone between child and adult.

Hellen van Meene studied Photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in The Netherlands and at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland between 1992 - 1996.
In 1999, Hellen received the prestigious Charlotte Kohler Prize for the most promising artist in Holland. In 2001 she was short-listed for the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize. Her inclusion within the Japanese Pavilion at 2001's Venice Biennale was also well received.

This was the first time Hellen hae shown in the United Kingdom outside of London.

Exhibition supported by Sadie Coles HQ, London, The Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam, Grolsch Premium Beer and Japan 2001
Exhibition programme supported by The Scottish Arts Council

Helen van Meene: Untitled, C-print, 2000, 39 x 39 cm

Helen van Meene: "Untitled", C-print, 2000, 39 x 39 cm

Helen van Meene: Untitled, C-print, 2000, 39 x 39 cm

Helen van Meene: Untitled, C-print, 2000, 39 x 39 cm

All work courtesy of the artist; Sadie Coles HQ, London,and The Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam.

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