hellen van meene’s beautiful and unapologetically tableau photographs explore the ephemeral and fragility of youth, as well as the awkwardness that accompanies it. through each portrait, the viewer is given an entire history of narrative qualities with which they are allowed to fashion their own meanings and stories. in each photograph, van meene succeeds in condensing an entire character within a single moment while also allowing an adjusted amount of ambiguity to subtly draw away from cognitive ultimatums. they contain eerie and funereal connotations that keep them from falling into a strict photographic category, such as portraiture, instead encouraging the viewer to contemplate one image as opposed to fitting this image into a stereotypical role.
