Biography

Sabrina (1986, The Netherlands) is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist whose practice arises from a cinematic visual language in which light, shadow, and composition determine the emotional and existential character of her images. Each work begins as a drawing, through which she explores composition, pose, space, and the relationship between light and the human form before translating these studies into photography. Her work examines the human body as a carrier of memory, vulnerability, and transformation. Through sculptural compositions and a carefully considered visual language, her photographs explore the tension between vulnerability and desire, intimacy and distance, absence and connection. Light functions not merely as a visual element, but as an expressive and sculptural force that shapes the emotional depth of the image.

She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. Early in her career, she developed a distinctive body of work in which fashion, music, and portraiture converged. Rather than treating fashion as image alone, she approached it as a language of self-expression and transformation. The poetry of Arthur Rimbaud—particularly his notion of Je est un autre (“I is another”)—became a lasting source of inspiration, shaping the philosophical and emotional foundations of her practice. This influence continues to resonate throughout her work, where carefully composed light, melancholy, and existential reflection come together in quietly powerful images.

She was appointed Artist in Residence at the Interuniversity Institute for Art History in Florence, where she conducted research into Renaissance drawing, anatomy, and the representation of the body in painting under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Michael W. Kwakkelstein. This period led to the development of Corpus Dei, a photographic series conceived and created across Florence, Rome, and Villa Adriana in Tivoli, drawing on the artistic legacies of Michelangelo and Caravaggio.

Corpus Dei was published as a bibliophile photobook by Lecturis, featuring a foreword by Prof. Dr. Michael W. Kwakkelstein and an essay by Sarah de Clercq. The book was launched at Sotheby’s Amsterdam during Amsterdam Art Week, accompanied by an exhibition of the series. The work was exhibited in Florence and later at the Ikonenmuseum, where the complete series was shown across six exhibition spaces, entering into dialogue with historical icons. The project received wide recognition and was featured in various Italian and international art and cultural publications.

Beyond Corpus Dei, her photographic practice has been presented internationally through two consecutive participations in the New York Photo Festival and exhibitions and art fairs across Europe, including PAN Amsterdam and PhotoFever Brussels. A significant milestone was the publication of her work in Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s leading newspapers, alongside features in international cultural publications. Her practice was further acknowledged through an Honourable Mention from Fotomuseum Den Haag as part of the museum’s photography prize.

Alongside her broader artistic practice, Sabrina develops portrait series with artists from the contemporary music and cultural scene. These include a series of portraits of British musician and poet Peter Doherty, presented during her solo exhibition How Soon is Now? in Amsterdam and later published in GUP Magazine, the American avant-garde duo CocoRosie, consisting of Bianca and Sierra Casady, Italian musician and composer Giancarlo Prandelli, and French multidisciplinary artist, singer and performer Rahim Redcar. These artistic dialogues reflect her fascination with artists whose identity, body and expression converge — where the image becomes not merely a representation, but an encounter with a unique presence.

Sabrina is currently developing Contritio Cordis, an interdisciplinary artistic research project originating from a photographic investigation at the former psychiatric hospital of Volterra, Italy. Within this research, a series of seventy-four black-and-white pictures emerged, accompanied by photographs of the architecture and surroundings of the former institution. The project is grounded in an existential rupture — a profound disruption of safety, belonging and human recognition — and investigates what happens when a person’s connection to themselves, to others, and to the world around them is broken.

Photography forms the foundation of the work, yet the research expands beyond the photographic frame into Intra Cordis: an immersive installation in development in which photography, space, sound, text and performance converge. Here, the image is no longer only something to be viewed, but becomes part of a spatial and sensory experience in which the visitor encounters questions of presence, vulnerability and recognition.

The project continues to develop through encounters with experts from different disciplines, bringing together artistic, philosophical and experiential perspectives that deepen and shape the research. The development of Contritio Cordis is supported by Stichting Psychiatrie en Filosofie, whose engagement with the dialogue between psychiatry, philosophy and lived experience resonates with the interdisciplinary foundation of the project.

Through the development of Parlatorio, exploring the tension between voice and the experience of not being heard; Intra Cordis, transforming photography into a spatial encounter with presence and recognition; and LENS, a space for encounter developed together with people who bring lived experience into the research, where the gaze becomes reciprocal and observation gives way to human connection, the work investigates vulnerability, memory, displacement, loss of belonging and the fundamental human longing to be seen and recognized.

At its core, Contritio Cordis asks: what happens when a person is no longer seen by a system, when a voice is no longer heard, and how does one ultimately make known: I am here? Through this ongoing research, the work becomes a search for recognition, connection and belonging — for a place where one can once again feel present, seen, and connected to oneself and the world.