Education
She received her Master of Fine Arts from Royal Academy in Arnhem.
She received her Master of Fine Arts from Royal Academy in Arnhem.
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 Artist
She has created campaigns for Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, and Louis Viutton, among others Sassen lived in Kenya as a child and often works in Africa.
She started studying fashion at Arnhem, but soon turned to photography. 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." She is known for her use of geometric shapes, often abstractions of bodies.
The photographed bodies are often intertwined, inspired by daily physical contact with strangers she experienced in Africa. Conscious of the stereotypical images of famine and poverty, she includes contemporary elements abundant in Africa like cell phones and automobiles. Solo exhibitions (selected) 2001: I see you gorgeous blossom special, Fotofestival Naarden, Naarden Vesting, the Netherlands.
2010: Flamboya, Danziger Projects, New York, United States of America. 2012: Parasomnia, Stevenson, Cape Town.
2013: In and Out of Fashion", Les Rencontres d’Arles Photo Festival, Arles, France. 2014: Pikin Slee and Etan & Maine, Stevenson Gallery, Capetown, South-Africa.
2014: Umbra, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 2014: Analemma: Fashion Photography 1992 - 2012, Photographer"s Gallery, London, 31 October 2014-2018 January 2015. 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.
2012: The Youth Code, part of Daegu Photo Biennale, South of Korea. Included work by Sassen as well as Anouk Kruithof, Ryan McGinley and Willem Popelier.