Collage

 invite children aged 8 to 12 to join the 

 this winter. Inspired by Viviane Sassen’s exhibition, participants will get hands-on with the camera and learn to see art and colour in a new way. To complete the festive experience, there will be plenty of time to enjoy hot chocolate and Christmas bread.

Foam

Kerstvakantie: Workshop Collage Maken

From the series I Do Miss Hospital Visit

Shwe Wutt Hmon

Students of Tsinghua University showing their prestige with an a4 white paper.

Xin Li

From the series POST, 2023

Sander Coers

From the series Blaze Orange / High Visibility

Jaclyn Wright

Opening of Loading... Works from the Foam Collection

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Pink Ladies and Pear, 2012

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Wedding day from the series Las Flores mueren dos veces, 2022

Louis Vuitton Jeff Koons Rubens Bag, 2020

From the series Home Leaving One for Another

"Mohlokomedi wa Tora", Scene 2, 2018 

Killa from the series Madre

In a sandstone mine 1 from the series This isn't Divide and Conquer

Dialect, 2020

authenticity (2 CHAINZ) from the series BLACK SNAFU, 2022

Wait from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here, 2022

Foam Magazine

Opening of Tyler Mitchell, photo by Almicheal Fraay

About

 is the well-known Photoshop selection tool of the same name. For Xin Li, the tool is much more than a handy feature to edit images. It becomes a means to draw parallels with societal control and censorship during the COVID lockdowns in China.  

The magic wand tool selects areas of images based on colour and hue—allowing smart selection and quick manipulation of images. Enforced with machine learning, it nowadays easily predicts which objects a user would like to see selected. Xin Li uses the tool to distort images, obscuring their original meaning behind layers of other images, often of other artworks.  

For Xin Li, this process symbolises the mechanisms of hiding and revealing facts and fake news, regulating the flow of information and controlling the dominant narrative. Metaphorically captured in the overwhelming fusion of shapes and colours, the visually explosive works tempt the viewer to look what lies beneath the apparent chaos. 

Stuck at home during the COVID-19 lockdown, Shwe Wutt Hmon was unable to visit the hospital for her regular check-ups and scans, necessary because of a life-long health issue. Coming to terms with this limitation, she started scanning her body, as well as flowers and medical records, by herself with an ordinary at-home scanner, creating a variety of abstract self-portraits. 

 that emerged from these experiments, reveal a poetic and symbolic documentation of the ongoing assault of medical procedures and operations on her body. Hmon’s image-making practice strongly ties together process and concept: the withering flowers symbolise the decay of the body and dark colours reflect somber emotions experienced right before scheduled operations.  

Another dimension was added when she moved from Myanmar to Thailand in 2022. Printing her work on local Saa paper, the works received an almost skin-like texture. Again, restrictions–this time due to the delicate paper type–required her to improvise, causing her to print the works small scale at home. The final accumulated process turned out to present a healing capacity: by carefully printing, cutting and sewing her works together, Shwe ultimately was also mending herself.

How does a photograph shape our understanding of the past? 

 is a series of A.I.-generated images, combined with archival images, questioning the construction of memory and masculinity through our image culture. 

In an attempt to grasp the full story of his deceased grandfather and his Indonesian heritage, Sander Coers turned to the artificial intelligence programme 

Feeding archival family photos into its system, he asked the programme to describe them, specifically listing their technical details such as dominant colour tones and type of camera, film and lens. Altering these descriptions allowed Sander to prompt the programme to create new images, yet maintain the exact visual look and feel of the family snapshots. Finally, by blending multiple A.I.-generated images together with the originals, he created a surprisingly intimate, genuine, yet completely fictional family album. 

The way the photos are cropped stands out. Coers used an element of collaging when assembling the final images, in order to emphasise the constructed nature of the photographs, and ultimately, the constructed nature of one’s memory, too. 

 alludes to the ‘afterlife’ of his grandfather, through the photo albums he left behind, as well as to the realm of post-photography: a space where images can be generated without the use of a camera.  

Adobe Stock image

Image from the series POST, 2023

From the series POST

The West Desert, located on the western shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah (USA), is the ancestral home of the indigenous Goshute people. Though officially public lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, this area is largely used for various privatised or military purposes, ranging from mining operations, testing grounds for weapons and improvised gun ranges.  

, Jaclyn Wright visited these cluttered sites, full of discarded targets and shattered clay pigeons. The bullet-holed remains, which she collected, photographed and filmed, are pieced together into performative installations, that reflect on the colonisation of ancient lands by bureaucratic systems.  

By inserting herself into the scene, wearing a skintight bodysuit made out of orange clay pigeons, Wright comments on the hyper-masculine culture of land dominance and cowboy fantasies. The synthetic orange colour becomes symbolic: used to enhance visibility, it signifies the strong opposition and rejection of its natural environment. 

Untitled (BLM arrows I)

From the series High Visibility (Blaze Orange)

Antelope Island (Utah) Buffalo Hunt photograph collection, Digital MSSC782, No. 6, Altered

L. Clyde Anderson photograph collection (1910- 1959), P0158, Box 1, Folder 27, Altered

Charles James Neal photograph collection (1900 - 1920s), P0694, Box 1, Folder 4, Altered

The West Desert is located on the western side of the Great Salt Lake [UT, United States]. Historically, this area has been documented through photography and land surveys, supporting the violent exploitation of the landscape. 

Archives, II

Untitled (grid)

Nearly one-third of the West Desert's 7.7 million acres are used as biological and chemical weapons testing grounds. The remaining areas of the West Desert are open to various uses, including improvised gun ranges.

Collected Targets

Collected Targets, from the series High Visibility (Blaze Orange)

L. Clyde Anderson photograph collection (1910- 1959), P0158, Box 1, Folder 6, Altered

Stansbury Island, the second largest island in the Great Salt Lake, echoes with gunfire and is littered with bullet holes, clay pigeons and improvised targets. The Bureau of Land Management refers to this detritus as "trigger trash".

Found Clay Pigeons

Archives, V

After encountering the powerful texts of psychiatrist Frantz Fanon on the fight against colonial injustice, a series of questions emerged inside Issam Larkat’s mind. Who was Frantz Fanon and how did he become a crucial figure in the liberation of Algeria, as well as the broader movement of decolonialisation? How relevant are his words after seventy years? And, which questions would Fanon have asked in today’s society? 

Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) was an important figure in the global struggle against colonialism during the 1950s, also known under the adopted Islamic name Omar Ibrahim, and recognised for his publications 

(1961). Born on the Caribbean island Martinique, under French colonial rule, Fanon educated as a psychiatrist in France. After the Algerian Revolution in 1954, he joined the National Liberation Front and continued to fight for the freedom of many African nations, including Algeria, until his death in 1961.

Inspired by the profound legacy of Fanon’s visionary ideas, Issam Larkat’s series 

pays a tribute to his thinking by using a distinct style that combines photographs, archival images and hand-made drawings. Larkat cleverly translates his questions into critical collages that depart from his own experience in Algeria, yet simultaneously speak to the universal struggle against injustice and (neo-)colonialism, connecting the shared identities of Algerian, African and Arab people. 

From the series Frantz Fanon, Me, and The Questions

Issam Larkat

is a close observation of performance in everyday life. Which roles do we act out on a daily basis and how does that influence our identities? Using the metaphor of the theatre to separate private (

) spheres, Eleonora Agostini studies her mother’s behaviours, gestures and expressions in her job as a waitress. 

Puzzling together photographs, archival images, moving images and texts into various collages, Eleonora Agostini breaks down the layers of performance one by one, revealing the repetitiveness of gestures, habits and adopted mannerisms used in serving clients.  

The work is also a commentary on the feminist theory of the “gaze”. The restaurant becomes the space where her mother is both the observer and the observed, where parts of her public behaviour as a waitress bleed into her private behaviour of being an individual, woman, and mother. Through her project, Agostini examines this relationship between the female body and the different social roles it performs in different spaces. 

From the series A Study on Waitressing

Eleonora Agostini

Unidentified flying objects, ships floating above the water or identical strangers: the internet holds a vast collection of real-world ‘glitches’: errors or optical illusions that occur in the world around us but cannot be explained rationally. Inspired by movies like 

, these puzzling phenomena spark online discussion, often satirical, about whether we might exist in a simulation, rather than the real world.

, artist duo Andrea Orejarena and Caleb Stein look exactly at this blurry line between fact and fiction, fuelled by the overwhelming flow of images coming our way through our screens on a daily basis. The artists treat the internet as a collective subconscious where evidence for real-life glitches is constantly posted, shared, and reshared. 

The large collection of found internet footage that they built over the years inspired them to search for sites across the United States that reminded them of such glitches. The resulting series of serene yet uncanny landscape photography leave the viewer in an unsettling space, confused between what might be real and what might be fake.

Syntethic Street Collage

Found footage from the series American Glitch

Abraham Lincoln and Drone from the series American Glitch, 2021

Real Bird in Fake Tree, 2022. From the series American Glitch

Desert Facade 1, 2022. From the series American Glitch

Egg Glitch. From the series American Glitch

Very Large Array, New Mexico. From the series American Glitch

Life on Mars Training Simulation, 2021. From the series American Glitch

From the project American Glitch

Cloud Glitch, 2021. From the series American Glitch

Desert Firing Range, 2022. From the series American Glitch

Fake Training Battle in Replica Iraqi Village

From the series American Glitch

Herndon Climb, 2023. From the series American Glitch

California City Paper Roads, Aerial View 1 of 9, 2022. From the series American Glitch

Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein

Dine Dine Khasiya Paribe

 is a visual folktale, following the tunes of local songs from the Rajbanshi community in Assam and Bengal, India. Historically, this community has continuously been mis-identified and culturally erased through the crushing weight of colonial bureaucracy. The series documents Akshay Mahajan’s journey in search for what ‘identity’ truly is.

Growing up in Mumbai as a child of the Indian partition, without any knowledge of his own heritage, Akshay Mahajan attempted to construct a new identity: not by birth, but through love. Folksongs, sung by his wife, drew him to north-eastern India, to the Rajbanshi people—bringing back to live a cultural tradition on the brink of obscurity. 

The resulting works are an intuitive and associative exploration about the meaning of ‘identity’. The use of the collaging technique refers to the constructed nature of identity, as something that is continually challenged and reassembled. Mahajan explains: “We are all people of clay, our identities constantly changing, not chained by the borders we have inherited.”

Listen to "Dine Dine Khasiya Paribe" by clicking the play button at the bottom of the exhibition.

From the series People of Clay

Akshay Mahajan

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk - Haven, 2023

now at Foam 3h

Finn Maätita and Jerrold Saija

Previous artists at Foam 3h

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Foam Magazine is an international award-winning photography publication.

Front cover: Faceless, 2023. Image from the series (Inter)Faces of Predictions

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue. Cover: Abundance, 2023

Cover image: Sunil and Sulbha Dhiwar, with Tanmay, Tejasvi, Sourabh, Prachi and Vivek from the Goody family archive, 2002. Image from the series Eat with Great Delight

Cover image: Untitled / After Courbet (L’origine du monde), 2004. Colour photograph, 46x55cm. Photograph: David Rych.

Foam Magazine 61 Talent. Image: Paintings, Dreams and Love © Yushi Li

Foam Magazine #60 Glyphs – The Image + Text Issue

Image from the series EIGHTEEN NINETY 2020 installation detail from the exhibition In Plain Sight

Foam Magazine is published two times a year. Each issue is dedicated to a specific theme that is explored through work by both world-renowned image makers and newer, emerging talents. Accompanying essays, interviews and opinions by experts in the field come together to shape an in-depth and critical conversation.

Crafted with distinct editorial choices, Foam Magazine has been the recipient of several awards for its high-grade graphic design and quality of content.

Phone showing Foam magazine

Image from the series Playing with Visual Fragments

Title

Foam Magazine #59: Histories - The Archival Issue, 2021 

Image from the series After Hours

title

Image from the series Collection of Unjust Enrichment

Image from the series Where We ve Been, Where We re Going Why

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Created by Katinka Goldberg in 2014. The artwork is printed on Canson platine fiber rag - glossy - 310g, mounted on dibond and displayed at 100 x 70 cm.

Waves from the Web, 2009

Visible in

, another of Katinka Goldberg’s works from the series 

, what stands out (other than the difference in palette) is the difference in distance. Instead of a close-up that fills the entire frame, 

 shows a small, cut-out photo piece in the middle of a blue plane. On the cut-out, we can distinguish the same kind of hair as in 

, the series that this photo is part of, is the second entry in a trilogy in which Katinka Goldberg investigates her relationship with her family in a poetic manner. The Swedish term Bristningar literally translates to “striae” (stripes in the skin caused by stretching), but it also has the more figurative meaning of “shortcomings”. The series consists of collages created by Goldberg that depict the tension between closeness and distance and, in a process of healing, deconstruct the body and put it back together. The question she keeps asking herself is: how much can you take away from yourself without disappearing completely? 

The Birdnest, 2014 from the series Bristningar

The Birdnest, 2014

This close-up of curly hair and how the light falls across it give this image an intimate feel. At the same time, it is cut off in such a way that viewers have no idea who this hair belongs to or what the person looks like. With this image, photographer Katinka Goldberg captures a particular emotional mood that is typical of her work. 

The Hair, 2014 from the series Bristningar

The Hair, 2014

Created by Jack Davison in 2015. The artwork is mounted on PVC and displayed at 53 x 43 cm.

What is probably just a randomly composed street scene – a red traffic light with an advertisement banner in the background – is transformed by the dark context into an abstract composition in which the elements lose their original meaning. It gives 

 a collage-like appearance. In his work, photographer Jack Davison often draws on the historical canon of photography. This image is reminiscent of the abstract works created by iconic photographers like Ernst Haas or Saul Leiter. It is typical for Davison to use a wide variety of cameras. This particular photo was made with a Nikon D800, which is a digital mirror reflex camera. For other images he used for instance an analogue Mamiya RB67, a medium-format camera, and even an iPhone. 

Untitled, 2015. New York, USA from the series Personal work, 2006-2016

Untitled, 2015. New York, USA.

Created by Kadara Enyeasi in 2016. The artwork is displayed at 100 x 100 cm.

When creating a composition, the choice of which elements to position next to or above each other – that is, the juxtaposition of elements – is crucial. This is what enables the artist to explore how different parts interact and to highlight contrasts or similarities. What strikes you about the background in this work by Kadara Enyeasi? In this collage, Enyeasi has placed two black-and-white portraits on a graphic framework with colour fields and text. The photographs have been taken from their original context and in that way have been reinterpreted. The artist smoothly combines different art disciplines to create an intriguing and aesthetically pleasing image. Drawing on both the geometrical principles of modernism and African textile design, Enyeasi blends together European and African art forms in a playful yet critical manner.

Wo èyìn wò (Watch Your Back), 2016 from the series Scenario I: After L’Ouverture, 2016

Wo èyìn wò (Watch Your Back)

What strikes you about this experimental collage portrait by the Nigerian photographer Kadara Enyeasi? It might be the large graphic letters, or it is the leafy branch suspended from the subject’s ear? The subject, portrayed ‘en profil’, is mirrored in the background. This double portrait is surrounded by various coloured and checkered areas, reminiscent of the graphic patterns of African textile designs. The graphic elements also refer to the principles of the modernists, such as the architect Le Corbusier, known for his minimalist and formalist designs. The ambivalent references to both African and western traditions are inspired by the ‘Arodan’ principle: a Yoruba custom of keeping children occupied and out of the way by sending them in search of something that doesn’t exist. The hidden message in Enyeasi’s work is humorous and desperate in equal measure: the dressed-up men hurtling through the image embody a complaint against the anti-homosexual laws of the artist’s home country of Nigeria.    

Abetí ajá (Dog Eared Cap), 2016 from the series Scenario I: After L’Ouverture, 2016

Abetí ajá (Dog Eared Cap)

Created by Peter Puklus in 2015. The artwork is a inkjet print and displayed at 68 x 48 cm.

One day, during his daily online search for photographs, Peter Puklus came across a black and white image of the sculpture of a male head. This early cubist sculpture, titled 

, was made in 1913 by the Hungarian avant-garde sculptor Joseph Csaky. Just a single image remains of 

, showing only the front side. Peter Puklus reinterpreted this photograph of the bust, which bears some resemblance to Puklus himself, by modelling his self-portrait in clay and photographing the result in different settings.  

, it won’t come as a surprise to discover that this Hungarian artist often seeks to push the boundaries of the medium of photography. Not hindered by any conventions, in his own unique way Puklus merges different art forms to create this absurdist self-portrait. With a sharp eye for the interplay of lines, geometrical shapes and vivid colours, he creates a sense of order within a pla

Painted plaster head (Self-portrait of a man in orange), 2015 from the series The Epic Love Story of a Warrior

Painted plaster head (Self-portrait of a man in orange), 2015

Created by Daniel Gordon in 2011. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 105 cm x 92.5 cm.

A collage is an image created using shreds of existing materials, for instance by cutting up and pasting images, or editing them electronically. Although the collage technique is not new to photography, Daniël Gordon’s application is unique. Gordon starts the process by printing out images found on the internet. He then uses these images to build three-dimensional collages. The next step is to photograph the collages with an 8x10-inch camera, which is a large-format camera. Gordon is also keen to reuse materials. After photographing the collages, he cuts up the 3-D compositions to reuse different elements in other works.  

 from 2011 not only visualises the digital era while paying tribute to the rich history of photography and collage, but the colours and geometry are reminiscent of the cubist style of artists like Pablo Picasso. For his unique approach to classic genres within the art world such as the still life and the portrait, Daniel Gordon won the Foam Paul Huf Award 2014. 

Portrait with a Yellow Window, 2011from the series Still Lifes, Portraits & Parts, Wallspace, New York, 2010-2011

Portrait with a Yellow Window

Created by Egon van Herreweghe. The artwork is a Vogue magazine page altered with trichlorethylene, glued on plywood  and displayed at 40 x 30 cm.

The photographic medium is strongly connected to the world of fashion, fuelled by early fashion photographers like Edward Steichen and Richard Avedon. Vogue Magazine, as one of the world’s most important fashion magazines, publishes and largely dictates through images what counts as fashionable and is ‘en vogue’. But what happens when we don’t look at the image itself, but at its reproductions? This question forms the core of the work by visual artist Egon Van Herreweghe. 

Instead of making photographs himself, Van Herreweghe transforms existing photographs from Vogue magazines by using acetone to distort the ink. The process results in painting-like, alienating images, such as the work shown here, from the series 

. Whereas fashion photographs on billboards and in bus stops often just flash by, Van Herreweghe manages to get viewers to stop and take a good look at his work. His art urges us to reflect on the use and consumption of visual material in our daily lives. 

Collage

Collage

Christmas Holiday: Fashion Photography Workshop

Shwe Wutt Hmon

Xin Li

Sander Coers

Jaclyn Wright

About

Xin Li

Shwe Wutt Hmon

Sander Coers

Jaclyn Wright

Issam Larkat

Eleonora Agostini

Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein

Akshay Mahajan

Foam 3h

Magazine

The Birdnest, 2014

The Hair, 2014

Untitled, 2015. New York, USA.

Wo èyìn wò (Watch Your Back)

Abetí ajá (Dog Eared Cap)

Painted plaster head (Self-portrait of a man in orange), 2015

Portrait with a Yellow Window

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