A Sense of You, Created by Me

Gallery Koyanagi welcomes the Dutch artist’s intimate portraits

Untitled, 2004, c-print, 39 x 39cm, edition of 10 (HVM200) Images ©Hellen van Meene/Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi

Lost in pensive gazes and introspective frowns, the subjects of Hellen van Meene’s photographs seem engrossed in the fuzzy dramas of adolescence. Their eyes meet the world—and occasionally the camera—in a mix of angst and weakness that balances them between iconic youth and awkward children. There are few smiles; only slight smirks or quivered lips belie their discomfort with the moment. And in those instants of self-conscious introspection, Van Meene reveals, or perhaps constructs, an alluring but uncertain vision of youth and being human.

The 25 photographs in “A Sense of You, Created by Me,” an accompanying exhibition to Van Meene’s recently completed show “Tokyo Girls” at Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya, demonstrate the role that the artist’s hand takes in shaping these pictorial moments. As the show’s title indicates, Van Meene treats her subjects not simply as individuals to be captured, but also as material in her artistic process. The young girls—and sometimes boys—she photographs are often approached directly in public spaces and asked to participate on the spot. From there, Van Meene asserts her sensibility, selecting clothing, offering instructions, and setting up poses.

Through this the works take on a vaguely staged feeling, as when a young man in St. Petersburg wraps his arms around the head of a friend, lover or sister, and they both stare out of the frame with unnaturally blank expressions.

In other photographs the artist’s role remains vague, and compelling characteristics of the subjects come forward. Such traces are apparent in the portrait of purple sweater-clad twins sitting tightly together beside a brightly lit window. While one sister looks down in the familiar somberness seen in many of these pictures, the other’s eyes cautiously peek up and her lips seem seconds from revealing a giggle.

In another image, the ambiguity provides an absorbing puzzle.

Untitled, 2004, c-print, 39 x 39cm, edition of 10 (HVM 239)

A young boy from Riga, Latvia, appears lost in thought as his wide pale blue eyes gaze stoically forward. His round face and folded arms project the image of a young student in a moment of focused contemplation, and one can almost imagine him gripping a pencil and notebook. But on the arm closer to the viewer there is an almost overlookable interrupt to this scene: a small black tattoo visible just below his sleeve.

It is a curious contrast to the otherwise doe-eyed boy, and emblematic of the idiosyncratic power of Van Meene’s imagery. The viewer is forced to question who this boy is and what the tattoo might signify? It also emphasizes how much we don’t know about any of the people in Van Meene’s work.

For her part, Van Meene offers few details. Besides what we see in front of us and a brief note of geography, there is little information about those being photographed for the show.

This absence of distinct identity makes the work irresistibly intriguing. To what degree is what we are seeing a crafted fantasy, and to what degree is it an accurate portrayal of the subject’s true personality? Unresolved, the uncertainty allows us to reflect on our prejudices and assumptions while freeing us to uncover our own sense of the people created by Hellen Van Meene.

Gallery Koyanagi, until April 20. See exhibition listings (Ginza) for details.

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