Helen Van Meene

In her second solo exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ, Hellen van Meene will show new work made in the south of the USA (2007) and around St Petersburg, Russia (2008).  Many of the new works show van Meene moving into panoramic formats, more expansively portraying her human subjects in the worlds they inhabit.

Van Meene’s travels in 2007 produced Going My Own Way Home.  This powerful series of portraits focuses on young people from around New Orleans – one of the poorest parts of the American south. Against the backdrop of neglected and weatherworn dwellings, van Meene’s subjects confront the camera face on, by turns bold and vulnerable, sassy and forlorn. In one such portrait three young boys stand outside a run-down house, barefoot and shirtless, scrutinising the viewer as they pause before resuming their play. In Russia, 2008, van Meene turns her attention to similarly aged young people, in similarly faded surroundings. In contrast to the rawness of her American photographs, the camera here lingers with studied determination. Off-setting van Meene’s mature portraits are a number of romantic still lifes that home in on the forgotten corners of faded buildings and open spaces around St Petersburg.

Van Meene is known for her composed portraits of adolescent girls and androgynous boys. Profoundly still, her subjects are caught in moments of deep contemplation, grounded and absorbed. Though the promise of youth shines through, van Meene’s pictures often harbour elements of disquiet - clothes are ill-fitting; girls appear exhausted with dark rings under their eyes; hair is tangled in trees.

Hellen van Meene was born in Alkmaar, The Netherlands, in 1972, and studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Recent solo shows include Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany, 2007; C/O Berlin, The Cultural Forum of Photography, Berlin, Germany, 2007; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2006; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 2006; and a touring show which was first exhibited at Pump House Gallery, London, and traveled across the United Kingdom, also in 2006.  She has taken part in various group shows, including Me, Ophelia, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2008; Family Pictures, Guggenheim, New York, 2007; The Wonderful Fund on Tour, Le Musée de Marrakech, Morocco, 2006. Of four monographs the most recent is Hellen Van Meene: New Work by Schirmer/Mosel Verlag GmbH, published in 2006. She lives and works in The Netherlands.