The dutch Linelle Deunk was born abroad in Germany in 1967, and moved to the Netherlands in 1974. She received her master in Movement Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and started later on her PhD in Family Medicine at the Radboud University Medical Center. She quit after 4 years to shift her interest towards photography. Deunk graduated in 2009 at the Photo Academy in Amsterdam. Shortly after finishing she won The Dutch Silver Camera for the portrait series 'Pien, 10 years', which has been a start for her professional career.
Linelle’s practice has focused primarily on portraying pre-adolescent children, mostly in relation to their arising identity, physical appearance and in relation to their family. Her first series about this subject was called 'nestgeur' (the scent of the nest) where she portrayed pre-adolescent children in different ways curious about their identity to become, despite or due to their 'nest'.
Other projects are inspired by the idea that we shouldn't be prejudiced by context, but value (young) humans as they really are, not distracted by looks, illnesses or status.
In Deunk’s recent project, This world is (not) mine, she continues to investigate the idea that without context we might all look very similar. And young people are just lucky where they are born, depending on the opportunities and security available. The series depicts a family in Uganda and their environment, which is despite harsh living, healthy because of acces to clean drinking water and sanitation. This gives them the opportunity to develop themselves further than surviving solely.
"The strength of her work - in addition to a very recognizable aesthetic, simple but intense black and white - is reflected in the way she repeatedly manages to be admitted into the intimate world of the individual. The legitimacy of watching is in photography itself: there emits a natural persuasion from the portraits of these often-young people. Simultaneously Deunk succeeds wonderfully in creating a new and own space, a world in which the transition of the portrayed, from childhood to adulthood, is palpable." Erik Vroons - GUP magazine.
Deunk's photographs have mainly been awarded and exhibited nationally. She has won the Silver Camera several times with different series and single portraits, and was nominated twice for the Dutch National Portrait Prize.
Access to clean drinking water can prove the difference between life and death. As these documentary portraits show, we are all together on this planet—yet by mere chance, some have so much more than others.
Loving attention to the “now”—a moment of fraternity and family strength—portraiture as the art of observation. See the winning images and read statements about how these stunning single shots came into being.
