Credo, from the series MADRE

challenges the binary opposition between the ‘good girl’ and the ‘bad girl’ deeply rooted in the Catholic traditions within Bolivian society. Closely collaborating with the sitters of her portraits, Marisol Mendez counters the simplified, sinner-versus-saint, vision on femininity. 

‘Madre’ in this case signifies much more than just a mother figure. It connects to the complex and multi-layered female goddesses traditionally worshipped in indigenous cultures and points to the rich, complex and varied experiences of 

Mendez deliberately uses the alternative spelling to, also linguistically, rid herself from limiting definitions of femininity. 

The portraits play with traditional symbolism associated with the stereotypical female: fragile, devout and proper stand next to rebellious and sexual. By doing so, the photographs show the contradiction experienced by many womxn between rebelling against and adopting these expected gender roles. 

Llorona, from the series Madre

Durazno, from the series Madre

Killa, from the series Madre

El marido sin cabeza, from the series MADRE

Huevo, from the series Madre

Our Lady of Plaster, from the series Madre

Pliegues, from the series Madre

Efigie, from the series Madre

Dolorosa, from the series Madre

Pared, from the series Madre

Estampita, from the series Madre

Quinceañera, from the series Madre

Virgen Andina, from the series MADRE

Soft, from the series Madre

Dual, from the series Madre

Marisol Mendez

Dine Dine Khasiya Paribe

 is a visual folktale, following the tunes of local songs from the Rajbanshi community in Assam and Bengal, India. Historically, this community has continuously been mis-identified and culturally erased through the crushing weight of colonial bureaucracy. The series documents Akshay Mahajan’s journey in search for what ‘identity’ truly is.

Growing up in Mumbai as a child of the Indian partition, without any knowledge of his own heritage, Akshay Mahajan attempted to construct a new identity: not by birth, but through love. Folksongs, sung by his wife, drew him to north-eastern India, to the Rajbanshi people—bringing back to live a cultural tradition on the brink of obscurity. 

The resulting works are an intuitive and associative exploration about the meaning of ‘identity’. The use of the collaging technique refers to the constructed nature of identity, as something that is continually challenged and reassembled. Mahajan explains: “We are all people of clay, our identities constantly changing, not chained by the borders we have inherited.”

Listen to "Dine Dine Khasiya Paribe" by clicking the play button at the bottom of the exhibition.

From the series People of Clay

Akshay Mahajan

Created by Manon Wertenbroek in 2014. The artwork is a pigment print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art 285gr, on aluminum, on wood, and with paint, and displayed at 90.5 x 72 cm.

Waves from the Web, 2009

Visible in

The bright colours and cartoon-like drawings on the model’s body create a playful image. At the same time, the model’s elegant posture might remind you of a classic sculpture from the Renaissance era. In 

, Manon Wertenbroek combines the art of sculpture with the medium of photography. By incorporating the model into all sorts of compositions of colours, circles, blocks, numbers and frames, Wertenbroek explores a rather unconventional approach to portraiture. The young man in the photograph is her brother. They were very close as children, but grew apart as they grew older. Creating this series was a way for Wertenbroek to restore the bond with her brother. Yet her brother cannot recognise himself in the portraits, so that these represent her own projections rather than his actual self. 

Manon Wertenbroek was part of the 2015 Foam Talent selection. Her image 

 served as the cover image for the talent issue of Foam Magazine. 

Tandem Rose, 2014 from the series Tandem, 2014

Tandem Rose, 2014

Created by Jaya Pelupessy & Felix van Dam in 2014. The artwork is displayed at 95 x 76 cm.

In how many ways can you create a photographic image? From the complicated chemical procedure in the medium’s early years to the advanced technology that underpins digital cameras: besides being an art form, photography can also be seen as a consistently evolving science. The artist duo Jaya Pelupessy and Felix van Dam became intrigued by the idea that a silkscreen print is, in principle, also light sensitive and hence can serve as a photo negative. Despite being told by others that the idea was ‘impossible’, the duo was determined to create their own unique ‘silkscreen’ camera. Eventually they managed to coat a silkscreen with a light-sensitive emulsion and to expose this to direct sunlight for two hours. You might wonder what this story has to do with the white sculpture wearing sunglasses. The point is that, in an attempt to reduce the required exposure time, the duo decided to experiment with ultraviolet light. The required amount of UV light forced Pelupessy and Van Dam to wear sunglasses, to protect their eyes against the intense light.  

Glasses, 2016 from the series Traces of the Familiar

Glasses - Traces of the Familiar

 in 2016. Using burned inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 150 x 220 cm.

White Charcoal, 2016

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, the VandenEnde Foundation and the City of Amsterdam.

In 2021 Foam receives additional support from the Mondriaan Fund and Kickstart Cultuurfonds

visible in

Borges experimented with the destructive power of fire in relation to imagery. She burned the photographic surface of a large-format print, a way of exploring what happens to the meaning of an image when it is burned. Does the piece lose its signification by being damaged or does it acquire a different sense?

Borges portrays objects and artefacts to free them from their specific meaning, to let them stand by themselves. She strives to show us that even photography, a medium bound up with reality by definition, can let go of reality, as happens in a painting or sculpture. In her work, she investigates what representation is, and what a photograph can be. Myths, fabulous creatures and philosophical questions about representation, mimicry and imitation play a major part in her work.

White Charcoal

Created by Nerhol (Yoshihisa Tanaka & Ryuta Iida) in 2015. Using stacked inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is a sculpture displayed at 23 x 20 x 4,5 cm.

w Face, 23 March, Tokyo, Japan, 2015

Nerhol (Yoshihisa Tanaka & Ryuta Iida), 2015

Nerhol is a collaboration between graphic designer Yoshihisa Tanaka and sculptor Ryuta Iida since 2007. Together they explore the concept of the photographic image. Traditionally, a photograph presents a depiction of a person’s three-dimensional face on a flat plane. The work 

, however, is a time-lapse portrait consisting of numerous photographs taken over a three-minute period, a process which captures each and every small, involuntary movement of the subject. Subsequently, Nerhol meticulously scoops out and carves the faces in their photographs, combining a layering of the multiple images with reductive carving. By merging many images into a single picture, the artists unveil the small, ever-present alterations within a photograph. In an ingenious way, the duo questions the genre of photographic portraiture and photography as a snapshot of 'reality': every single, minimal movement can already produce a different representation of the sitter.

w Face, 23 March, Tokyo, Japan

. The artwork uses C-type digital photo, wood, paper, ink and pigments as the medium.

The Crossroads from the series My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 2014

Using unorthodox materials, Paul Bogaers tries to avoid the conventions imposed by photography: the flat surface and documentation of reality. He combines various media in an attempt to push the absolute limits of photography as an artistic medium. At first glance, the sculptural form of The Crossroads seems to suggest real, three-dimensional depth but is, in fact, a photograph. This work is part of the series 

 (taken from the acclaimed 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, who in turn borrowed it from a novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola written in 1954), with which Bogaers refers to the ‘Bush of Ghosts’ that he visits in his studio daily.

The Crossroads

Still from the On Earth video tour: Mark Dorf

On Earth Video Tour - Mark Dorf

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue. Cover: Abundance, 2023

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue Cover: Scarcity, 2023.

Image from the series Theatre of Authenticity

From the series Waste Identity Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living

"The portfolios and essays on this side address the growth, excess, overproduction, overconsumption, and greed that drive the Anthropogenic engine to continue grinding."

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Waste Identity: Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living by Aàdesokan

Waste Identity: Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living

PORTFOLIO – Waste Identity: Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living by Aàdesokan

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Crisis of Storytelling by Gem Fletcher

LONG READ – Crisis of Storytelling by Gem Fletcher

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Theatre of Authenticity by Natacha de Mahieu

PORTFOLIO –  Theatre of Authenticity by Natacha de Mahieu

Page 144-145 in Foam Magazine #64: EXTREMES

From the series The Eyes of Earth

From the series Master Rock

"This side shows the impact, the disintegration, and the lack of connection to native knowledge, capturing the decrease in different ways."

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Master Rock by Maria Fusco

PORTFOLIO –  Master Rock by Maria Fusco

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Radical Inclusivity, Relationality and Indigenous Photography by Wanda Nanibush

LONG READ – Radical Inclusivity, Relationality and Indigenous Photography by Wanda Nanibush

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: The Eyes of Earth by Solmaz Daryani

PORTFOLIO –  The Eyes of Earth by Solmaz Daryani

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue Cover: Abundance, 2023

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue: New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

For more information and visual material please contact the Press Office of Foam via pressoffice@foam.org.

Note to editors

see more

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Support Foam and get unlimited visits to the museum with a plus one. Foam Friend members also get access to exclusive member activities and receive discounts for programming, the magazine and in the Foam Bookshop.

The red bags are used for the seeds, 2021

New Western Views

Nike See, Nike Do, 2019

Opening Liz Johnson Artur & Foam 3H 

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Mooncake, Foam Café, Amsterdam

Spread from Chinees-Indisch Stickeralbum

Cahier for Benjamin Li's In Search of Perfect Orange - Chinese Version

Chinese version

Liz Johnson Artur - of life of love of sex of movement of hope, 2021

In Search of Perfect Orange. About the work of Benjamin Li

For more information and visual material, please get in touch with the Foam press office via pressoffice@foam.org.

Foam 3h: Benjamin Li - In Search of Perfect Orange

From the series A Study on Waitressing

Installation view 'A Study on Waitressing' by Eleonora Agostini in Foam Talent 2024-2025

In its staging, we observe Agostini's desire to use the image as a theatre for performativity, where the line between performance and reality wears thin.

Foam Talent Digital 2024-2025

Eleonora Agostini

Aby Fulani

Gigapedia: Haatsymboliek en Online Codetaal

Bereitschaft, 2024

Gigapedia: Exhibition Glossary. About the work of Jakob Ganslmeier and Ana Zibelnik

For information and visual material please check www.foam.org/press or contact the press office of Foam on +31 (0)20 5516500 / pressoffice@foam.org

3h: Finn Maätita and Jerrold Saija - Tones of the Ecotone

Dialect, 2020

Image from the series Arrival

Image from the series Tell the trees to smile

Image from the series Where I was Born

Image from the series Italia o Italia

Image from the series Tupamaras Technophallus

Image from the series Dairy Character

Image from the series Except the clouds

Image from the series Trans Human Nature

Image from the series Evidence

Image from the series Mr & Mrs Das

Image from the series Dialect

Image from the series Escaping the Heatwave

Image from the series Languor

Image from the series Hidden

Mom (detail), 2016

Felipe Romero Beltrán wins FPHA 2023

Portrait of Benjamin Li, Peach Garden

Benjamin Li

Though almost half a century has passed since the Franco Dictatorship (1939-1975) ended in Spain, the wounds this period left behind are very much open. Young imagemakers, born after the death of Francisco Franco, address this complicated collective past in their work. In this article, we explore the topic through the work of three contemporary artists. One of them is Bebe Blanco Agterberg, whose work was exhibited in Foam 3H.  

from the series a mal tiempo buena cara

from the series A mal tiempo, buena cara

I was taught that photography is inherent with truth. A picture could be constructed, but it could not lie. When I start learning to take pictures something about this perception changed. (...)  I started to see all
the gaps where manipulation in and around
the image could appear and how this could
effect people’s memories. 

The Spanish flag on a flag pole, torn in half, from the series Nadar y Guardar la Ropa (2010 - ongoing) 

The Spanish flag above a massage center, hung from a balcony together with laundry, from the series Nadar y Guardar la Ropa (2010 - ongoing)

The Spanish flag as a curtain in front of a door window, from the series Nadar y Guardar la Ropa (2010 - ongoing) 

The Spanish flag covering a satellite dish on a brick balcony, from the series Nadar y Guardar la Ropa (2010 - ongoing) 

from the series Todo (2021 - 2022)

Link Room Spain Under Franco

Ka 2phisi yaka e pinky II, 2013, Her Story series

Re shapa setepe sa lenyalo II, 2013, Her Story series C Lebohang Kganye

Lebohang Kganye’s (SA) work utilises the photographic medium to narrate and imagine a new history. Her work was chosen by a jury of five industry specialists out of around 100 nominees. The Foam Paul Huf Award is presented annually to an upcoming photography talent to encourage photographers in their artistic development.

Reflecting on personal narratives, memory, family, loss, displacement and dislocation while questioning photography’s indexicality as a marker of truth, Lebohang Kganye’s work impressed us for its clarity of vision, complexity and ambition.

Ke bapala seyalemoya bosiu ka naeterese I, 2013, Her Story series

Ke le motle ka bulumase le bodisi II, 2013, Her Story series

Ke monahano ke ntse ke le pating II, 2013, Her Story series

Kwana Germiston bosiu I, 2013, Her Story series

Ngwana o tshwana le dinaledi I, 2013, Her Story series

Setupung sa kwana hae II, 2013, Her Story series

Ka mose wa malomo kwana 44 II, 2013, Her Story series

You couldnt stop the train in time, 2018, Tell Tale series

Helens father grazing his goats, 2018, Tell Tale series

I recognise how the stories are centred on healing. I am grateful that the healing is not just for me.

Lebohang Kganye wins Foam Paul Huf Award 2022

Paintings, Dreams and Love

The 20 artists selected for Foam Magazine's Talent Issue look closely at the world around us, and the one within - without shying away from discomfort or pain.

The Act of Sitting

Tell the Trees to Smile

Le Grand Voyage – Version Courte

Languor

Marble Ass

To Destroy Is To Build

Words from Dad

There Is Nothing New Under the Sun/See Daylight

Inner Journey

WAH’A

Maryam, 2020, Leave and Let Us Go

Shame Less A Protest Against Sexual Violence

Home/Leaving One for Another

Good Hope

The Martyrs

0N0E

Malign Influences/The Holy Mountains

Woman, who would be King

Announcing Foam Talent 2022

Glasses  - Traces of the Familiar, 2014

Over the coming weeks, we challenge you to create your own captions for the artworks in the museum. What do you see? Get creative and let us know via Instagram.

Sculpture

Marisol Mendez

Akshay Mahajan

Tandem Rose, 2014

Glasses - Traces of the Familiar

White Charcoal

w Face, 23 March, Tokyo, Japan

The Crossroads from the series My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Hinde Haest talks about

Mark Dorf in the exhibition On Earth

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue:
New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Foam Friend

Club Foam

In Search of Perfect Orange
About the work of Benjamin Li

Foam 3h: Benjamin Li - In Search of Perfect Orange

Gigapedia: Hate Symbols and Online Codes
Exhibition Glossary

3h: Finn Maätita and Jerrold Saija - Tones of the Ecotone

Felipe Romero Beltrán wins Foam Paul Huf Award 2023

Link room
Spain under Franco

Lebohang Kganye wins Foam Paul Huf Award 2022

Announcing the new Foam Talents

Caption This
#captionthemuseum

Nature's Limbo

Sculpture

Marisol Mendez

Akshay Mahajan

Tandem Rose, 2014

Glasses - Traces of the Familiar

White Charcoal

w Face, 23 March, Tokyo, Japan

The Crossroads from the series My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Hinde Haest talks about

Mark Dorf in the exhibition On Earth

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue: New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Foam Friend

Club Foam

In Search of Perfect OrangeAbout the work of Benjamin Li

Foam 3h: Benjamin Li - In Search of Perfect Orange

Gigapedia: Hate Symbols and Online CodesExhibition Glossary

3h: Finn Maätita and Jerrold Saija - Tones of the Ecotone

Felipe Romero Beltrán wins Foam Paul Huf Award 2023

Link roomSpain under Franco

Lebohang Kganye wins Foam Paul Huf Award 2022

Announcing the new Foam Talents

Caption This#captionthemuseum

Nature's Limbo

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue:
New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

In Search of Perfect Orange
About the work of Benjamin Li

Gigapedia: Hate Symbols and Online Codes
Exhibition Glossary

Link room
Spain under Franco

Caption This
#captionthemuseum