In an age where the entire world has been meticulously mapped, I am drawn to the remote and the unexplored. I am interested in landscapes that remain elusive and uncontrolled, evoking feelings of freedom, beauty, and thrill. How can one give image to the essence of such places?

In my work, I create landscapes that exist between reality and longing, between recognition and illusion. I construct images of nature that refer to romantic landscapes and our collective memory of them. Mountains, valleys, and misty vistas emerge in my studio from everyday materials such as fabrics, water, powders, and wood. I then photograph these temporary constructions and further process them using analogue techniques such as cyanotypes and photo etchings. I also work with chemigrams, images created by painting with photochemicals on light-sensitive paper.

I enjoy working with techniques in which chance and materiality play an important role. By partially relinquishing control, the creative process becomes a journey of discovery into uncharted territories. The traces that emerge in this process, such as stains, frayed edges, and chemical reactions, therefore carry a significant meaning within my fictional landscapes.

Current and upcoming
10 - 12 July 2026, North Sea Jazz Art with Ballon Rouge, Ahoy Rotterdam

Biography
Vivian Ammerlaan (1994, The Netherlands) received her bachelor's degree in Photography from AKV St. Joost in Breda in 2016. Her work was nominated for several awards such as the St. Joost Penning and she won talent awards at the Kunst10daagse Bergen and at the Affordable Art Fair in Amsterdam. In 2025, she was awarded the John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation Award, which included a trip, a solo exhibition at Singer Laren and a book (written by Hans den Hartog Jager and published by Waanders). Her work has been published in several papers and magazines and has been exhibited in places such as Het Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch, iCOON in Hoek van Holland and Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen. In 2024, she exhibited with her solo exhibition Waanplekken at Ballon Rouge in Rotterdam. In 2025 and 2026, her solo exhibition 'Vivian Ammerlaan in de Rocky Mountains' was on show at Singer Laren. In 2026, she debuted at Unseen Photo Fair, part of Art Rotterdam, with Ballon Rouge.

Full CV