Sanne De Wilde
Bio
Sanne De Wilde (Belgium, 1987) explores the medium of photography and effectuates this in regards to subjects related to the role genetics, identity and perception play in people's lives and how this shapes and affects communities and makes people vulnerable in the eye of society.
She graduated with a Master in the Fine Arts at KASK in Ghent (BE) with great honours in 2012. Her photo series 'The Dwarf Empire' was rewarded with the Photo Academy Award 2012 as well as the International Photography Award Emergentes DST in 2013. Her serie ‘Snow White’ was awarded 16ème Prix National Photographie Ouverte and NuWork Award for Photographic Excellence. She was awarded the Nikon Press Award in 2014 and 2016 for most promising young photographer. The British Journal of Photography selected De Wilde as one of 'the best emerging talents from around the world' in 2014 and she received the Firecracker Grant 2016, PHmuseum Women's Grant and de Zilveren Camera award for 'The Island of the Colorblind'. ‘Land of Ibeji’, her newest project with NOOR-member Bénédicte Kurzen, won the World Press Photo Award, Rovinj Photoaward, CAP Prize, Prix Voies OFF and was nominated for the ZEISS photography award in 2019.
She has been internationally published (Guardian, New Yorker, National Geographic, Le Monde, CNN, Vogue) and exhibited (Voies OFF, Tribeca Film Festival, Circulations, Lagos Photo, Lodz Fotofestiwal, Cortona On the Move, IDFA, STAM and EYE). Since 2013, De Wilde works with the Dutch newspaper and magazine De Volkskrant, in Amsterdam the Netherlands, and joined NOOR in 2017.
She is represented by East Wing Gallery (Doha, Qatar).
Selected Stories
LAND OF IBEJI
‘Land of Ibeji’ is a collaborative photographic project with Bénédicte Kurzen discovering the mythology of twinhood in Nigeria. West Africa and specifically Yoruba-land (Nigeria’s South West) has ten times more twins than any other region in the world. “Ibeji” meaning 'double birth' and ‘the inseparable two’ in Yoruba stands for the ultimate harmony between two people. Through a visual narrative and an aesthetic language that is meant to reflect and empower the Yoruba culture that celebrates twins, the two photographers extend their gaze beyond appearance - with symmetry and resemblance as tools- to open the eyes to the twin as a mythological figure and a powerful metaphor: for the duality within a human being and the duality we experience in the world that surrounds us.
The island of the colorblind
In the late 18th century a catastrophic typhoon swept over Pingelap, a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean. One of the survivors, the king, carried the rare achromatopsia-gen that causes complete colorblindness.
The king went on to have many children and as time passed by, the hereditary condition affected the isolated community and the islanders started seeing the world in black and white.
The Island of the Colorblind consists of "normal" digital images converted to black and white, infrared images and photopaintings.
Samoa Kekea
In Samoan, Kekae means albino. Sanne De Wilde explores the role genetics play in peoples lives and how this shapes and affects communities.
Picturing people suffering from a condition making them vulnerable in the eye of society, people that are overlooked or disregarded.
Snow White
People with albinism are light sensitive, like photographic material, light leaves an irreversible imprint on their body.
Their white beauty, that makes them stand out, at the same time makes their image dissolve, consumed by bright light
Selected Portraits
Education & Exhibition
