Viviane Sassen

Viviane Sassen (born 1972) is a Dutch artist living in Amsterdam. She is a photographer who works in both the fashion and fine art world. She is known for her use of geometric shapes, often abstractions of bodies. She has been widely published and exhibited. She was included in the 2011 New Photography exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. She has created campaigns for Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, and Louis Vuitton, among others. She has won the Dutch Prix de Rome and the Infinity Award from International Center of Photography.

Life and work Sassen lived in Kenya as a child and often works in Africa. She started studying fashion at Arnhem, but soon turned to photography. She received her MFA from Royal Academy in Arnhem.

She is of the generation of photographer/artists that alternate personal, editorial, and commercial work and embrace an interdisciplinary attitude. She says, "You should always be able to judge a photograph on different grounds, on political, social, emotional, but also on personal grounds."

Sassen was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2015 for her exhibition Umbra at Nederlands Fotomuseum.

For several advertising campaigns, Sassen worked with fashion label 3.1 Phillip Lim. Commissioned by Italian luxury goods manufacturer Bottega Veneta, she photographed Mica Argañaraz and Sven de Vries at the Kröller-Müller Museum for the brand's spring/summer 2016 advertisements. Working on other campaigns, she later photographed Langley Fox at Villa Noailles for Lancel (2016) as well as Natalie Portman and Yara Shahidi for Dior (2022), among others.

Publications Flamboya. Contrasto, 2008. Sketches: Polaroids of Africa. Kominek, 2010. Parasomnia. Munich: Prestel, 2011. Die Son Sien Alles. Libraryman, 2011. . Roxane. London and Paris: Oodee, 2012. . In and Out of Fashion. Munich: Prestel, 2012. . Etan&Me. London and Paris: Odee, 2013. . Lexicon. Tokyo: Art Beat, 2014. . Edition of 1000 copies. Pikin Slee. Munich: Prestel, 2014. . About the village Pikin Slee. Umbra. Munich: Prestel, 2015. . Reprint edition. Roxane II. London and Paris: Odee, 2017. . Edition of 1000 copies. With a poem by Maria Barnas. Of Mud And Lotus. Tokyo: Art Beat, 2017. . Edited by Shigeo Goto and Sawako Fukai. Edition of 1000 copies. Hot Mirror. Munich: Prestel, 2018. .

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 2013: In and Out of Fashion, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France 2014: Umbra, Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands 2014: Analemma: Fashion Photography 1992 – 2012, The Photographers' Gallery, London, October 2014 – January 2015

Exhibitions with others 2011/2012: New Photography 2011, Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 2011 – January 2012. Photographs by Sassen and Moyra Davey, Zhang Dali, George Georgiou, Deana Lawson and Doug Rickard.

Awards 2007: Prix de Rome for her Ultra Violet photography series in Africa. 2015: David Octavius Hill Medal from the German Photography Academy 2016: German Photo Book Prize for Umbra