Artwork: Dragon's Blood
Artist: Scarlett Hooft Graafland
Year: 2014
Media: C-Print
Size: 60×75cm
Edition: 12
Price: RMB 27,000
While Scarlett Hooft Graafland’s images are soft and colourful, they are in fact the result of a complex reflection on societal and environmental issues.
The Dutch Artist lives for several weeks at the rhythm of the local populations that she stages and photographs, creating a strong bond of trust. The human relationship and sharing are at the heart of her personal and artistic approach, which strongly relates to conceptual photography. Her projects – based on performances or in situ installations – are conceived and designed upstream. In fine, photography intervenes as a witness to preserve a trace of an ephemeral artistic activity.
“I use nature and the cultures I encounter around the world as a canvas and a brush. They are the co-authors of my project. Many of my photographs have been taken in remote and often rugged areas, such as deserts (Oman) or islands (Madagascar, Socotra and Vanuatu). These isolated landscapes become real actors in the performances I choreograph. Weeks of preparation in close collaboration with the local inhabitants culminate in a scene, all captured during the shooting.” (Scarlett Hooft Graafland)
About the Artist
Scarlett Hooft Graafland
After brilliant studies (a BFA at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and a MFA at Parson’s School of Design, New York), Scarlett Hooft Graafland spent the following years travelling to remote places where she choreographed performances with local people. Her surreal photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide
Traveling to the most isolated corners on earth, for Scarlett Hooft Graafland these austere surroundings become live actors in the highly choreographed performances that she stages there.
Her solo museum exhibitions include the Fotografiska Museum in Stockholm (2019), the Huis Marseille Photography Museum in Amsterdam (2016), the Landskrona Museum in Sweden (2015), the Seoul Photography Museum in South Korea (2014), the National Art Museum of La Paz in Bolivia (2012), the Roofs of Reykjavik in Iceland (2004) and the Center of Contemporary Art for Photography of Jerusalem in Israel (2000).
The works of Scarlett Hooft Graafland are part of important public collections such as Fotografiska in Stockholm (Sweden), the Museum for Photography in Amsterdam (Netherlands), the Museum for Photography in Seoul (Korea), the Landskrona Museum (Sweden), the National Art Museum of La Paz (Bolivia), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Jerusalem (Israel), the Hague Museum (Netherlands), UBS Zurich (Switzerland), Utrecht (Netherlands), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Ministry of Justice of the NetherlandsBas, The New School University Art Collection in New York (USA).
Her works are also present in private collections such as the Caldic, Edward Burtynsky, Xippas Art Gallery in Paris, Piet Hein Eek and Deplar Farm Hotel in Iceland.
About the Gallery
Galerie XII (Paris, Los Angeles & Shanghai)
Established in 2005 by Valérie-Anne Giscard d’Estaing, Galerie XII specializes in 20th-century and contemporary photography. The gallery is distinguished by its commitment to promoting ideas and discourse through images and their multifaceted paths to creation. It also encourages an exploration of photography, film, and video that opens up a vast range of possibilities through different mediums linked to the image including conceptual work and video art, documentary series, iconic lifestyle and fashion photography, and cinema and theatre.
The gallery organizes regular exhibitions at its main space in Paris, shows its artists in cooperation with institutions, galleries and private collectors around the world, and participates in multiple international art fairs each year including Photo Shanghai, Art Élysées, and Photo L.A. Located in Le Marais, Paris, France. The Gallery is member of the Comité Professionnel des Galeries d’Art.
In 2012, Valerie-Anne Giscard d’Estaing established Fine Photographs LLC in Santa Monica, California in order to represent and show Photo12 Galerie’s photographers in the United States while opening a window to new perspectives across the Pacific in Asia (China and Korea). She acts as an Art Advisor, Art Dealer, and Curator. In 2017, Photo12 Galerie opened a third location in the Former French Concession area of Shanghai, China.
ENQUIRE