Book launch Verena Blok - Love Shit
Foam welcomes you to the presentation of Verena Blok's newest book Love Shit on Friday 16 January.
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.
Host of the evening is curator Jilke Golbach, who is working together with Verena Blok on her solo exhibition at Foam in March 2026. Writer, artist and curator Mirthe Berentsen will moderate the talk with Verena Blok.
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.
The exhibition Love Shit will be on view at Foam in March 2026.
Book launch Verena Blok - Love Shit