Biography
(Self-Portrait with my Afghan Hounds: Bashir and Tiziano)
Sabrina van den Heuvel is a Dutch photographer. Born 8-6-1986. She’s attracted to classic black & white photography, music and fashion. In her work she combines those three elements with flair and passion. Her style is characterized by raw, moving images with strong contrasts. Narrative, dynamic photographs. Real moments of intensity, spontaneous and speedy.
Striking black and white portraits of singer Peter Doherty and fashion designer Bas Kosters, Actress Victoria Koblenko and a selection of exciting fashion images and a fashion series as a result of a special collaboration with Mattijs van Bergen and Jan Boelo.
Sabrina is inspired by Herman Brood, The Smiths, Vaslav Nijinsky, Yves Saint Laurent and Arthur Rimbaud.
The talented photographer graduated on the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Her free spirit was shown in her series ‘Bedroom Diaries’. Autonomous work of Sabrina has been presented in The Hague Museum of Photography , (Honorable mention) and during art fairs
like PAN Amsterdam, New York Photo Festival, Fotofever Brussels , KunstRAI (ART Amsterdam) and The University Institute for Art History in Florence, Italy.
Sabrina van den Heuvel became ‘artist in residence’ at the University Institute for Art History (NIKI) in Florence formed by members and representatives from major museums such as the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Sabrina was appointed by director Prof. Dr. Michael W. Kwakkelstein. During her stay at the NIKI she was inspired by the nature surrounding Florence and Rome, the remains of classical antiquity at Tivoli and the masterpieces of Caravaggio and Michelangelo. Here she created her series Corpus Dei starring Jacopo Cangi.
Corpus Dei, Sabrina’s first series of male nudes, is a range of exciting, challenging compositions combining her sense of drama with a timeless aesthetic and with personages that deeply touch your soul.
The photo series Corpus Dei was combined with beautiful icons of Christ during the Corpus Dei Museum exhibition from November 2021 to June 2022 in the Icon Museum. There, a harmonious and surprising presentation is realized in six rooms, in which selected icons are shown next to photos of Sabrina.
The photo book is flourishing like never before and Sabrina van den Heuvel got her series Corpus Dei published. “Corpus Dei” is launched at auction house Sotheby’s Amsterdam.
Right after the launch of Corpus Dei Sabrina went to Italy again to photograph at the Ospedale Psichiatrico Di Volterra for this new project called: ‘Stories from the largest former psychiatric hospital in Volterra’. In this series Nicolò Giacopuzzi is the main character. Looking like something straight out of a horror movie, the ospedale psichiatrico di Volterra is the crumbling husk of a mental institution that was closed due to cruel treatment of its patients.
‘The place of no return’: The forgotten Italian asylum that was once home to 6000 patients sent for ‘treatment’ but were never allowed to leave. You can have a sneak preview inside the ruins here: ”Stories from the largest former psychiatric hospital in Volterra”.
Sabrina van den Heuvel is studying and sketching for years to realize her newest project called: ‘La Porta Del Cielo’. She starts taking pictures when she’s ready in the Italian region of Tuscany inspired by Dante and his La Divina Commedia: The most influential work of Italian literature. In this gigantic poem of more than 14.000 verses which Sabrina has studied several times intensively Dante tells the story of his own heart. For his faults and sins are also ours, his tears are ours, his joys are ours. Like him, we struggle up from the night of evil to take our flight from the heights of purification to the heart of God. This new upcoming project will be very autobiographical. It will incorporate not only photography but also sketches, a moving scenic artwork and film. As a visitor of the exhibition you get the opportunity to participate in a grand art installation box to acquire a full experience of the life path and real-life experiences that Sabrina had. It’s a tool to make you feel really part of the pictures. More details and news about this immense project will follow after the various photoshoots and recordings in Italy.