Esmee van zeEventer

Since the age of four, Esmee and her family moved frequently, rarely staying in one place long enough to feel at home. Her sense of home became fragmented, and over time, she began to mistrust her memories. When reflecting on these places, details blur, and her recollections shift with each retelling. The fabric of a curtain softens, the layout of a house fades. Confident in her memories, she would share a story, only to be reminded by her brothers that she was mistaken. Paper Curtain is an analog image on fragile rice paper, sewn together to represent this fragile, evolving memory.

Through photography, Esmee explores the fragile nature of memory, where details blur and shift with each recollection, leaving her uncertain of what was real. Fascinated by the ‘truth’ promised by the technology of photography, she questions its ability to capture and preserve moments within reality, as it also reconstructs and reshapes it. Esmee challenges this notion of reality, creating a world free from time and conventional narrative.

Through experimental and tactile materials and photographic techniques, she brings together familiar elements of everyday life with the unpredictable qualities of historic processes like cyanotype and carbon printing. The contrast in subject matter, methods, and materials allows her to navigate the space between memory, imagination, reality, and fiction. Esmee aims to evoke a sense of place—one that feels both familiar and intangible.

Website: www.eamy.nl
Instagram: @eamy.nl