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Booklaunch Verena Blok - Love Shit

Foam welcomes you to the presentation of Verena Blok's newest book Love Shit on Thursday 30 October.

For two-and-a-half years, Blok photographed pregnant people in various European countries at different stages of pregnancy. The images in the publication are combined with stories, anecdotes, and observations she wrote while working at a Dutch abortion clinic, alongside her own reflections around the complexities of motherhood and intimacy.

During the evening head of artistic programming Mirjam Kooiman will moderate a talk with Verena Blok alongside Rodante van der Waal works as a midwife and philosopher.

Doors wil open at 18.00 hrs and the talk starts around 18.30 hrs.

About the publication & the artist

Verena Blok (b. 1990, NL) carries a deep interest for personal histories and narrative storytelling. Intrigued by the way cultural and political factors influence one’s life, she uses her lens-based practice to shed light on the inner life of people she develops intimate relationships with over time. Blok holds an MA Photography from AKV St. Joost in Breda and a BA Design (Photography) from the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague. She was an artist in residence at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten 2020-2022. 

Love Shit (FW: Books, 2025) deals with the dilemmas surrounding reproduction: (un)desired pregnancy, motherhood, and childhood itself, which together reveal the complexities of womanhood.

The portraits of pregnant people are interwoven with close-up photos of toys, kissing teenagers, and children playing outside. The latter images form the red thread of the publication, embodying and symbolizing the past and future of being born through a woman’s body and the patriarchal policies that get placed upon that them. The title of the book was inspired by the drawing on the cover by five-year-old Sadie, daughter of the artist Kate Cooper.

In Spring 2026 the exhibition Love Shit will be on show in Foam.

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Booklaunch Verena Blok - Love Shit