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Can happiness be captured in a photographed?Sjoerd Houben reflects on how
we perceive and experience happiness, and the drive to control it. Government
and advertising try to push forward a linear idea of happiness. Contrariwise,
Houben understands happiness as a rhizome that may take many different forms. His photography is a studious approach to the paradoxes of
interpretation of the theme, portraying diverse personages and their stories
within a broader social narrative. For example, happiness as seen through
beauty, aging, memory, youth, the human body or emotion.
Houben’s work holds individual experience at its core; however, the theme and concept tie together these experiences into a cohesive unit.
Houben’s work holds individual experience at its core; however, the theme and concept tie together these experiences into a cohesive unit.
No Pleasure Cruise (2018)
No Pleasure Cruise (2018)