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Blind Spot by Julie van der Vaart.
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Photographs by Julie van der Vaart
Void, Athens, Greece 2023. 220 pp., 7¾x9¾".
In Blind Spot, Julie van der Vaart crafts images that drift between the abstract and the tactile, the geological and the human. The silvery prints are a study in contrast — both visually and conceptually. Over- and underexposed moments create a dreamlike experience that invites viewers into her world of chiaroscuro. The viewer questions not only the nature of our bodies but also how far are we actually removed from the slow drip of time — like stalactites we are shaped by small moments. We are reminded that time is not intuitive but merely moments strung together (much like the function of the camera itself) where seemingly abstract ideas are merged into one continuous loop. The question is this: are we truly outside the natural processes of the earth, of caves, of the slow drip of water within us all? She seems to answer: we are not. This work invites the viewer to look deeper than the skin, this crust of society we are all mired in.
Van der Vaart’s work is visceral, marked by drips, sprays, and textures that resemble acid washes or misty, stormy coastlines. Often, the imagery of bodies alongside caves evokes topographic or geological maps and visually drags us across landscapes both human and subterranean.
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The imagery of people highlights humanity’s vulnerability through disassociation of not only body but place, and questions the mystery and solitude found in life. The nudes that are paired with these natural landscapes feel like echoes, their shapes abstracted into formal structures, eliciting the viewer to explore and climb in. Limbs become rivers, and bodies float like celestial objects, at times resembling the moon or stars in motion. There’s a tension here between bodies falling or arching, offering an emotional push-pull between desire and detachment.
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The subtle use of color — hints of purples and blues — breaks through the monochrome, allowing for moments of stillness, like musical rests between visual notes. Van der Vaart’s repetition of forms and exposures creates a rhythm that builds, referencing both geological forces and bodily ones. In one double-page spread, the deep blue evokes Yves Klein, while elsewhere, a body and a cave meld together in a shared sense of space and form.
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Van der Vaart’s work questions the boundaries of the known and the unknown — inviting us to spelunk through both physical landscapes and emotional depths. Her visual metaphors are provocative, at times playful. Through seeming imperfections, motion blurs, and long exposures, she taps into early photographic techniques, while pushing them into contemporary contexts.
Blind Spot is a journey of texture, shape, and light. Through its inky depths, we are invited to explore not only the natural world but the deeply personal and emotional spaces within ourselves. The experience of looking at these images is as much about what we see as what remains in the periphery — an invitation to uncover and understand our own blind spots.
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