Atelier MW

Merel Waagmeester (1981) lives and works in the Netherlands.
She studied Fine Arts at the Utrecht School of the Art and Design (NL) and photography at the Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad de Granada, Spain.

‘I prefer things simple, silent and profound.
In response to the complexity and noise of everyday life, I tend to the minimal, to simplicity, images that breathe and are open to interpretation. In my work, I explore a certain emptiness that is not empty, a vital silence.
Simple, sober and implied: a stone is a stone in the fullness of its form and mystery.
There is a difference between the direct experience and the interpretation of it and photography consistently appeals to selfless contemplation as such.
No stories, projects, concepts or distant journeys to photograph, I just walk and walk and walk, responding to the wind in autumn, a child in bath, a tree along the way. The intimacy of the elemental.
To me, a suitable image is an image that is open and transparent. There is neither beginning nor end, images that are both recognizable and touch upon the unfathomable mystery of themselves.’