Viviane Sassen, Photographers Gallery - exhibition review

Viviane Sassen’s habit of introducing extra imaginative elements to her works has led to commissions by leading designers from Stella McCartney to Miu Miu to Adidas.

The Dutch photographer choreographs unusual and athletic models into strange sculptural forms and textured locations. Placing them on sand or roads or among jungle foliage and wrapped in clashing radiant fabrics, she exposes skin flesh tones and paints them, before adding props with tropical leaves and fruits, painted furniture and often the darkest Constructivist shadows.

In this marvellous exhibition, Sassen projects 350 startling life-sized images across the wall on a 45-minute loop, while in the other part of the room images move vertically, producing a parade of models’ portraits down the wall and across the floor like a flowing catwalk. The range is unimaginable: a red painted face emerges from a white hoodie; two women are encased in fishnet tights (referencing the celebrated photographer Moriyama).

In works such as Corpus Electra, with scratched layering over the subject, Sassen is less fashion photographer, more contemporary artist. Her forms are often sculptural but most striking is her breathtaking colour palette.