FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER MARGARET LANSINK
Margaret Lansink
On wabi-sabi, wounds, and photographing her own life
Natsukashii — Borders of Nothingness — On the Mend, 2020
Collage of handmade washi paper with 23kt gold leaf
Margaret Lansink is a Dutch fine art photographer who works mostly in analog, using the camera to ask who we are in relation to our social environment and our family history. Her images are an open, unguarded reflection of her own feelings, doubts, and struggles — an invitation for the viewer to take the same journey inward. Lansink's practice extends past the darkroom into collage, painting, and alternative printing processes like Liquid Light and platinum palladium, often finished by hand with charcoal or gold leaf. Underneath all of it sits the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi: the beauty of what is imperfect, incomplete, and impermanent.
Tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences.
Influences vary, but there are a few I come back to time and time again. Before starting my career as a photographer, I painted for a long time, and some of my influences still stem from that period — Gerhard Richter and Lucian Freud, for example. Currently I'm very taken by the work of Lorna Simpson, Marlene Dumas, and Luc Tuymans. Simone de Beauvoir is very much part of my life as well, because of my latest series, Friction.
How are current trends in technology and innovation affecting your work as a creative?
The more modern technology enters our life, the more I seem to be drawn to old-school photographic technique. I love the hands-on process of the darkroom, and I'm working again with Liquid Light. I'm also using various painting techniques — charcoal, gold leaf, and other natural pigments — to enhance the images.
Tell us more about your creative process.
I see myself as an intuitive photographer, so almost all of my work has to do with life — my own life.
What do you think of the art world and how it works in general?
I see the art world as very traditional in its model. There's the line between collector, gallery, and artist trying to connect — either physically at the gallery, at fairs, or now increasingly online. That's been the case for decades, if not longer, because I don't think the online element has been "cracked" yet — but we need to find ways to do so. The strength of a physical meeting with the work and the artist will remain crucial, though online can be an important tool to prepare for that meeting.
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."Simone de Beauvoir — quoted by Lansink on the friction that shapes Friction
What's Next
Unseen Amsterdam
Presenting a new book from her latest series, Friction, alongside a new gallery to be announced shortly beforehand.
Siebold House, Leiden
A group exhibition on the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, curated by Ibasho Gallery of Antwerp.
Gallery XII Paris
Work shown at Modern Art Paris.
Jewish Historic Museum, Miami
An invitation to present her series The Kindness of One during Art Basel.
On Friction
The series is close to Lansink's heart — she hopes it has the power to nudge us toward a different way of living alongside nature. There's also the ongoing friction between men and women that concerns her, a feeling of inequality she still finds persistent in how we live now.
From her Instagram —
For more on Lansink's work, exhibitions, and process
@margaretlansink on InstagramYou Will Also Love
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