Exploring Identity by Arjan Spannenburg
Focusing on the search for identity and self-expression, Arjan Spannenburg invites viewers to reflect on their own journeys of self-discovery through his introspective work. His exhibition is dedicated to capturing a raw yet tender glimpse into the lives of LGBTQ adolescents at a pivotal and uncertain time.
Through his lens, we see individuals whose silent plea for support, understanding, and love resonates profoundly with viewers, inviting them to contemplate the balance between vulnerability and self-expression, especially in the context of exploring and affirming their sexual and gender identities. This exhibition will feature across art’otels in London, Amsterdam & Berlin.
The photography of Arjan Spannenburg (Texel, 1978) is centered around the search for identity and self-expression. In powerful compositions, mostly in black-and-white, Spannenburg portrays young people on the threshold of adulthood.
We see adolescents at an uncertain time in their lives, searching for their own individuality. This results in fragile, loving portraits of people lost in their own thoughts. At the same time, the people portrayed seem to have a strong need to communicate with the outside world, in search of support, understanding, and love.
Sometimes this search results in raw images, but these are never intended to shock or provoke. Rather, these photographs invite the viewer to reflect on the relationship between vulnerability and self-expression. Although Spannenburg takes his own coming of age as an autobiographical starting point, his work transcends both his own personal story and that of the people he portrays. The photographs represent universal feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, and insecurity, while capturing the poetic beauty of adolescence. The photographs represent universal feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, and insecurity, while capturing the poetic beauty of adolescence.
