How can documentary photography help create awareness or help us understand certain environments, communities, cultures or even the medium itself?

We take a look at projects by three artists that explore how photography can create artistic portrayels of social societies. Myriam Boulos (LB), a 2022 Foam Talent, shows a series of portraits of friends and strangers that have been affected by the blast and economy in Beirut. Rahim Fortune (US) uses documentary photography to ask fundamental questions about American identity. Lastly, Bieke Depoorter (BE) 

explores the complexities of the photographic enterprise, grappling with the relationship between photographer and subject.

The three artists are featured in the online talk 

Navigating the media industry - Photographer's Perspective

. For many photographers today, working on commissions and assignments within the media industry helps to build and contribute to a sustainable career. How can an artist navigate the territory between their own practice and the media industry at large?

From the series Tell The Trees To Smile

Myriam
Boulos

Tell the Trees to Smile

about

Rahim
Fortune

Brothers after wake from the series I can’t stand to see you cry

Father from the series I can’t stand to see you cry

City Finance from the series I can’t stand to see you cry

First Holidays from the series I can’t stand to see you cry

Kerosine lamp from the series I can’t stand to see you cry

ICSTSYC from the series I can’t stand to see you cry

Bieke
Depoorter

Agata, Paris, France, November 2, 2017

Agata, Germaine, Neuilly-Plaissance, France, September 4, 2018

Agata, Paris, France, November 12, 2017

Agata, Beirut, Lebanon, August 3, 2018

Bieke & Agata, Lebanon, August, 2018

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Moscow, 2016

Archive of Public Protests

Urmia salt lake, Iran

On Social Documentary Photography

&ldquo;There is no distance between me and what I photograph.&rdquo; - Nan Goldin

Each month Rialto presents Cracking the Frame, a programme&nbsp;featuring an international selection of critically acclaimed arts documentaries and artists&rsquo; films.&nbsp;Cracking the Frame focuses on the creative intersection between art and film through thought-provoking cinematic portraits of the life and work of established contemporary artists, photographers, filmmakers and global thinkers. This edition's film, Nan Goldin - I Remember Your Face, is introduced by Foam curator Mirjam Kooiman.
Wednesday 20 January 2016, Rialto Amsterdam, 19:30 hrs. NAN GOLDIN &ndash; I REMEMBER YOUR FACE Sabine Lidl&nbsp; Germany | 2013 | 61 min&nbsp; In English and German with English subs Dutch premiere
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pOVWTQnk_do" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
ABOUT&nbsp;THE DOCUMENTARY German director Sabine Lidl composes an intimate portrait of the New York charismatic photographer as she accompanies the artist on a nostalgic journey from Paris to Turin, Vienna and Berlin, where Nan Goldin lived for three years in the 90s and where she re-encounters some of her dearest friends and ex-lovers. As ruthlessly candid as the snapshots that have come to define Goldin as one of the most celebrated and controversial photographers of her generation, Lidl's deeply personal film intertwines slideshows of Goldin's photographs with intimate moments where the artist talks openly about her personal life, work, inspiration and obsessions.
ABOUT NAN GOLDIN In 1985 her ground-breaking series The Ballad of Sexual Dependency portrayed her extended family of artists, drug addicts and drag queens friends as they partied, got high, fought and had sex and, according to the New York Times, "forged a genre, with photography as influential as any in the last 20 years". Now in her sixties Goldin continues to amaze and shock with her transgressive slideshow presentations, exhibitions and books, still true to her motto that &ldquo;my photos originate from relations, not from observations.&rdquo;

<div class="sidebar__content">Première info 
Wednesday 20 January 2016 19.30 hrs. Rialto cinema, Amsterdam
&nbsp;
In English and German with English subtitles
&nbsp;
PRICE &euro;10, regular rate &euro;8,50, reduced rate</div>

Nan Goldin documentary première

Opening of Loading... Works from the Foam Collection

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Description

Pink Ladies and Pear, 2012

as a Foam Member

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Wedding day from the series Las Flores mueren dos veces, 2022

Louis Vuitton Jeff Koons Rubens Bag, 2020

From the series Home Leaving One for Another

"Mohlokomedi wa Tora", Scene 2, 2018 

Killa from the series Madre

In a sandstone mine 1 from the series This isn't Divide and Conquer

Dialect, 2020

authenticity (2 CHAINZ) from the series BLACK SNAFU, 2022

Wait from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here, 2022

Foam Magazine

Opening of Tyler Mitchell, photo by Almicheal Fraay

About

 weaves together several historical routes: that of his mother, growing up in Botswana after escaping the Apartheid regime of South Africa with her parents. That of his great-uncle, Zephania Mothopeng, the anti-Apartheid activist, imprisoned on Robben Island. And that of his grandfather, and his love for music, inspiring Makepe to pursue a creative career.

What at first glance may appear as a personal family narrative, in fact reveals the painful, racist and discriminatory political history of South Africa and the remnants of its colonial regimes. The series unfolds as a multi-dimensional, visual journey along these historical paths, touching on land dispossession, activism and colonialism.

includes striking portraits of his close relatives, sometimes re-enacting historical scenes, documentary photographs of important landmarks, as well as documents from Makepe’s family archive. Accompanying the visual material is a playlist of music, curated by the artist himself—connecting the work beautifully through the shared love for music. 

Sentlhane, 2022, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Monna Wa Mmino III, 2020, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Re A Hlopela Tombstone Unveiling from the series We Didn’t Choose to be Born Here, 2019

Archival footage from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Hippolytus Mothopeng [left] (1958), from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Hippolytus Mothopeng Citizenship, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

The Metronome Swing Orchestra in Botswana (1966), from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Garden, 2022, from the series We Didn't Choose to Be Born Here

The Aunt I Almost Had, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Wait, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Kgomo Tsaka Deile Kae, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Kereke, 2019, from the series We Didn't Choose to Be Born Here

Sello, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Martha and Hippolytus Mothopeng (1982), from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Robben Island University, 2020, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Mama Mo Metsi, 2019, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Under Surveillance, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Thero Makepe

Created by Alessandro Imbriaco. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 40 x 30 cm.

Waves from the Web, 2009

Visible in

, photographer Alessandro Imbriaco seamlessly combines the portrait genre with documentary photography. In this image, traditional portrait photography techniques stand out: the subject is placed at the centre of the image, with the body turned slightly to the right while the head turns back to face the camera. At the same time, Imbriaco creates a somewhat mysterious atmosphere by the poor quality of light that gently falls on her rosy cheeks. This mood is enhanced by the background: dark and wild shrubbery surrounds the timid-looking girl, named Angela. The portrait hides the dire reality of migrants leading a concealed and isolated life in a marshy area at the edge of Rome, Italy. Imbriaco’s comment on this work: “

The colours are interesting and muted, like a Garden of Eden where everything has gone wrong.

, the Italian photographer Alessandro Imbriaco was selected for Foam Talent 2011. The story about Angela’s family’s life was shown as part of the group exhibition and in Foam Magazine #28 Talent. 

Angela from the series Angela's Garden

Angela

Created by Cristina De Middel. The artwork is an inkjet print on cotton paper and displayed at 50 x 50 cm.

Documentary and journalistic photography are often viewed as the most true-to-life forms of photography, with the created images serving as representations of reality itself. Yet a photograph never tells a purely objective story, even without any staging or editing. Every image tells a story through the photographer’s eyes, and this personal angle always infuses the image with a subtle subjective character. In 

, photographer Cristina de Middel plays with the promise of ‘truth’ suggested by the medium of photography. Based on historical fact, De Middel uses her imagination to recreate the cancelled space flight programme launched by Zambia in the 1960s. On the photograph 

, the viewer’s attention is drawn to a patch of white stone surrounded by a darker hillside, resembling part of a skull. This image could well be a faithful documentation of a natural phenomenon, but as a part of the series it nevertheless provokes the question whether it is truly so. 

Untitled from the series The Afronauts

Gwendalu

Felipe Romero Beltrán - Dialect, 2024

Award prize

Selection criteria

Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Hiền Hoàng

Under an Ideology, part of Asia Bistro - Made in Rice, digital image, 2020

Jury 2024

Hoàng uses food symbolism and unconventional surfaces to demonstrate the stereotypes that exist in Western narratives with regards to Asian culture.

Most recent exhibitions

All winners

About Paul Huf

Foam Talent Call

Foam 3h

back to the overview

Other talent inititatives

Foam Paul Huf Award

 in 2012-16. Using inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 140 x 100.

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad), from the series Ekaterina, 2012-16

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 

Romain Mader’s Ekatarina is notable for the humour and irony with which he addresses serious issues: solitude, love, exploitation and the female body. In this Chinese box of a project, each layer opens to reveal a new interpretive possibility. What is real here, and what is fiction? 

exhibitions

This selfie depicts Romain Mader with his wife: it’s the end of the artist’s alter ego’s search of a wife. He started his mission in Ukraine, in an imaginary city mysteriously populated only by women, all named Ekaterina, and each hoping to find a rich western husband. In an utterly naïve narration by Romain about his search for the one and only Ekaterina, a series of stereotypes take the stage, from Mader performing as an oblivious western sex tourist, to interchangeable Ukrainian brides, up to the “typical” Soviet backdrop to the whole quest for love. The gap between preconceived ideas about a place like Ukraine and its reality is what is constantly exploited to the point of absurdity in Mader’s work. In a photographic language that perfectly employs the conventions of documentary photography, the confusion between what is fictitious and what is real – or what seems real – ultimately arises as a goal in itself.

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad) from the series Ekaterina

 in 2012-16. Using inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 40 x 50.

Demande en marriage, from the series Ekaterina, 2012-16

This picture depicts Romain Mader with his fiancée: it’s the end of the artist’s alter ego’s search of a wife. He started his mission in Ukraine, in an imaginary city mysteriously populated only by women, all named Ekaterina, and each hoping to find a rich western husband. In an utterly naïve narration by Romain about his search for the one and only Ekaterina, a series of stereotypes take the stage, from Mader performing as an oblivious western sex tourist, to interchangeable Ukrainian brides, up to the “typical” Soviet backdrop to the whole quest for love. The gap between preconceived ideas about a place like Ukraine and its reality is what is constantly exploited to the point of absurdity in Mader’s work. In a photographic language that perfectly employs the conventions of documentary photography, the confusion between what is fictitious and what is real – or what seems real – ultimately arises as a goal in itself.

Demande en marriage from the series Ekaterina

Smile

Installation view 'Maktub' by MAryam Touzani in Foam Talent 2024-2025

What does it mean to use your teeth to find your family history? Born and raised in the Netherlands, MAryam Touzani examines her own teeth to come closer to her family and to find out whether her family truly existed.

Foam Talent Digital 2024-2025

visible in

MAryam Touzani

from the series Nothing New Under the Sun

Foam produced a series of podcasts on the occasion of Foam Talent 2022. In this third and final episode, host and curator of this year's Foam Talent exhibition Mirelva Berghout speaks with Foam Talent Kata Geibl and special guest Shailoh Phillips.

Podcast

The Feast Inside, from the series Paintings Dreams and Love

Talent Talks 2022 - Kata Geibl & Shailoh Phillips

from the series Marble Ass

Foam produced a series of podcasts on the occasion of Foam Talent 2022. In this second episode, host and curator of this year's Foam Talent exhibition Mirelva Berghout speaks with Foam Talent Pavo Marinović and special guest Barbara Gregov.

Talent Talks 2022 - Pavo Marinović & Barbara Gregov

In a four-part series led by acclaimed Polaroid artists Rhiannon Adams, Ellen Carey & John Reuter, and Marcel Veldman and Foam 3h alumnus Ece Gökalp, the participating students were able to use the recently launched Polaroid I-2 camera – the first advanced instant camera with built-in manual controls. Moreover, they had the chance to discuss their perspectives about the possibilities of storytelling and the enduring relevancy of this unique medium.

Students as well as young, self-made creatives approached the medium from various angles and shed light on its artistic, social, and technological significance by pushing the boundaries of what instant film can achieve. The results of their collective efforts are now on display as part of an exclusive online exhibition.

This programme is made possible with the support of Polaroid.

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, the VandenEnde Foundation and the City of Amsterdam. 

PORTRAITURE
AND
THE PHYSICAL
PHOTOGRAPH

“Polaroid photo processes are completed in situ, there is no external hand involved. It’s pure – just me, the camera, the environment, and the film.” 

POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHY 
AS AN ARTISTIC MEDIUM

CAPTURING 
REAL 
               LIFE

“In between all the skateboard tricks and stuff, I like something contrasty. Instant film for me is the perfect way to do this. It gives you an example of the free life aside from the actual skateboard.”

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

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

From the series Broer (2017 – present)

Installation view of 'Broer' by Florian Braakman in Foam Talent 2024-2025

The sociopolitical impact of Braakman's work lies in its ability to tell a more nuanced story of migration, a story that looks beyond the often one-dimensional media narratives.

Florian Braakman

Foam Paul Huf Award 2023

The Foam Paul Huf Award is, in a way, a means of examining the trajectory of photography and how it makes sense in our world. It is a significant award, with nominations reflecting responses from many geographies. This award enables recipients to mark themselves and their interests to an important audience, providing them with the attention necessary to propel their work into the future.

Previous winners and exhibitions

FPHA Jury Announcement 2024

Daisuke Yokota, 2016

FPHA Jury Announcement 2023

The red bags are used for the seeds, 2021

On the occassion of Earth Day, Foam curator  Amelie Schüle speaks with artists Ana Núñez Rodríguez and Isadora Romero, whose work both trace personal and global stories around one specific vegetable: the potato.

Underground Beauty, 2021

Earth Day with Ana Núñez Rodríguez and Isadora Romero

How does a new generation of image-makers from Turkey use photography to reflect on the world around them? 

As part of the multi-year project Kısmet, this online group exhibition gives a snapshot of the emerging community of contemporary image-makers from Turkey. Kısmet is inspired by longstanding cultural, diplomatic and economic ties between Turkey and the Netherlands and delves into the diverse and intricate facets of Turkish visual culture, as seen through the lens of different generations of image-makers. Here, we present the work of four talented visual artists, born after 1990, whose voices will shape the vast visual landscape in Turkey, and beyond, in the upcoming years. 

Showing a diverse range of visual styles, what connects these four artists is the profound personal investment they put in their work. Their photography holds a personal dimension that goes beyond ‘merely’ having an affinity for the chosen subject matter. Rather, their practice and the resulting bodies of work reveal a deep connection to their perception of the world around them. What stands out are the distinct translations of their inner worlds, whether this is in the methodology, subject matter or aesthetics. 

For Oğulcan Arslan, the personal comes forward not only through the story he documents, but also through photographic techniques he uses. In 

, he intimately captures a friendship by adjusting light, exposure and composition to the emotions he experiences himself or from his friend. 

Alp Peker finds solace in their photographic practice to voice their protest against unspoken issues and social taboos they experience on a daily basis. Their photographs, shown here under the title 

, are an ode to the community Alp lives in, their goals, struggles, and weirdnesses.  

Kıvılcım S. Güngörün defines her work as autobiographical fiction. The collages in 

are a direct translation of her inner workings: intuitive visual responses to questions that pop into her mind, or new questions that arise during the process.  

, Cansu Yıldıran studies the power dynamics and gender inequality that they encountered in their ancestral village in Northern Turkey. Inspired by the personal stories of the women of their family, Cansu creates emotional atmospheres that investigate their own sense of identity, of belonging and the continuous search for a safe space.

Kismet: online exhibition intro

How to

Oğulcan Arslan 

From the series All the Rivers Flow In the Nuthouse

               

Alp Peker

Untitled

From the series Amel Defteri: a notebook of deeds

From the series Amel defteri: A Notebook of Deeds

             

Kıvılcım S. Güngörün 

From the series I lab yu

From the series I Lab Yu

“My day becomes my laboratory, and I lab back.” 

                          

Cansu Yıldıran 

From the series The Dispossessed

      

Image from the series After Anahit, 2023

The Golden Horn, Istanbul

Dad and his Indian Friends, April 2017

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

For many photographers today, working on commissions and assignments within the media industry helps to build and contribute to a sustainable career. How can an artist navigate the territory between their own practice and the media industry at large? We take a look at topics such as roles and responsibilities, power and ethical dilemmas around commissions in the industry.

Covers of the two practical handbooks created for On Assignment - Navigating the Media Industry

On Assignment: e-books now available

Navigating the Media Industry - Media Perspective

Talk: Navigating the Media Industry - Media Perspective

What is the role of the photographer on assignment?

Michael, Michael at home, Portland, Oregon, USA, May, 2015

On Assignment

Untitled from Eyes Dazzle As they Search for The Truth.

Installation view 'Eyes Dazzle As They Search For The Truth' by Amin Yousefi in Foam Talent 2024-2025

Re-photographing (...) makes us look slower and closer, accepting what cannot be known but must be thought, nonetheless. It keeps the door open.

documentary