About
Suzette Bousema (NL, 1995) visualizes contemporary environmental topics in collaboration with scientists. Planetary conditions and our place in them are the starting point in her work; the way humans interfere with nature and how we relate to the Earth on an individual level. She works interdisciplinary with photography, printmaking, glass blowing, weaving, sound, smell, and organic materials such as seaweed.
Currently one of her main sources of inspiration is Hyperobjects, a book by philosopher Timothy Morton. A hyperobject is such a big or abstract object, that we cannot see or touch it, but only experience it through its effects. For example, we can see and touch a single plastic object, but to imagine global pollution is nearly impossible. Through multimediaprojects, she uses all the senses to gain a better understanding of environmental hyperobjects, like climate change or global pollution.
Suzette Bousema graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (NL) in 2019. She exhibited at a.o. museum Singer Laren (NL), Foam (NL), Art Rotterdam (NL), Photoville (NY), Fotobok Fesital Oslo (NO), COP 25 (ES) and The Scientific Center Kuwait (KW). Her work has been published in a.o. NRC (NL), de Volkskrant (NL), Foam magazine (NL), Harper’s Bazaar (NL), Financial Times (UK), Der Spiegel (DE), Die Zeit (DE) and Liberatión (FR).
Curriculum Vitae
Education / programs
Royal Academy of Art BA, Photography, The Hague (NL), 2015 – 2019
Royal Academy of Art, Preparatory Year, The Hague (NL), 2014 - 2015
Thesis
Understanding Hyperobjects: An Archaeological Quest Into The Anthropocene, 2019
Grants
Fentener van Vlissingen Fonds, NATUURCULTUUR, Jun 2021
Mondriaan Fonds, Young Talent, Aug 2020 – Jul 2021
MIAP Grant 2020, Future of Nature, Mar 2020
Nominations
SBK Sprouts Young Talent Award, Amsterdam, 2019
StartPoint Prize, Prague, 2019
Exhibitions
Treefest, Super Organism, Amsterdam, 7 Nov 2021
Natural Dependencies, Trixie, Den Haag, 16 – 31 Oct 2021
Mycota, London Design Festival, London, 16 – 29 Sept 2021
Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Leiden, 14 Jul – 4 Aug 2021
Alterando Paisagens, Changing Landscapes, Online, 2021
Outdoor exhibition, Super Organism, Kaapse Bossen, 22 May – 11 Jul2021
VierVaart, Groede, 26 Apr – 9 Oct 2021
West End Projekt, The Hague, 27 Nov 2020 – 27 Jan 2021
Hoogtij #63, The Hague, 27 Nov 2020
Photoville, New York, 17 Sept – 17 Nov 2020
Fotobok Festival Oslo, Oslo, 10 – 20 Sept 2020
Worldpress Photo House, Amsterdam, Sept 2020, cancelled due to Covid, group: Xandra van Eijk, curated by Colette Olof
What If The Earth Becomes Uninhabitable, PHMUSEUM, Online, 07 Jul - 12 Oct 2020
Foam First Editions, Amsterdam (NL), 20 May – 30 Aug 2020
Rotterdam Photo festival, Rotterdam (NL), 6 - 9 Feb 2020, group: Udo Prinsen, Esther Kokmeijer
StartPoint Prize, Prague (CZ), 11 - 18 Dec, 2019
UN Climate Change Conference, COP 25, Madrid (ES), 4 Dec 2019
Little Big Art Show, Circle gallery, Amsterdam (NL), 23 & 24 Nov 2019
Sprouts Young Talent, SBK, Amsterdam (NL), 13 - 27 Oct 2019
On Your Own (OYO), HKK, The Hague (NL), 21 - 27 Oct 2019
Antarctica. Peter Kuipers Munneke & Suzette Bousema op onderzoek, Museum Singer Laren, Laren (NL), 3 Sept 2019 - 5 Jan 2020
YOUNG ARTISTS SHOW 2019, gallery DE TWEE PAUWEN, The Hague (NL), 4 Aug - 4 Sept 2019
Gallery Project 2.0, The Hague (NL), 30 Jul - 26 Aug 2019
Graduation show, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (NL), 5 - 11 Jul 2019
Save Our Seas (S.O.S.), Muzee Scheveningen, Scheveningen (NL), 7 Jun - 22 Sept 2019
REUSE, The Scientific Center Kuwait, Kuwait City (KW), 10 Jan - 10 Apr 2019
Good work, good work, ‘‘good work’’, The Greyspace In The Middle, The Hague (NL), 25 - 30 Jan 2018, curator: Femke Lutgerink
Publications
Antarktikos, Climate Archive, autumn 2021, magazine by Esther Kokmeijer
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Leider nur Plastikmüll, 29 Oct 2021
MYCORRHIZALE SCHIMMELS en hun toepassingen, Oct 2021, Dutch translation of the book ‘Teaming with Fungi’. Translated by Marc Siepman.
Collect, De Wandeling, Sept 2021, with Diane van der Marel, written by Koos de Wilt
Liberatión, Fossiles à vivre, 22 Jul 2021
De Telegraaf, Schimmelnetwerken op doeken in bos, Jul 2021, written by Eric Roeske
Harper’s Bazaar, Nature’s CALL, Oct / Nov 2020, written by Helene van der Ven
Die Zeit, Das Märchen vom guten Plastik, Oct 2020, by Barbara Unmüßig
Foam magazine #57 In Limbo, Nature's Limbo, Oct 2020, written by Kim Knoppers
New York Times, ‘Photoville Adds New Venues, Vistas and Vision’, 21 Sept 2020, written by Siddhartha Mitter.
Financial Times, Snapshot: ‘Climate Archive’ by Suzette Bousema, 22 May 2020, written by Chris Allnut
Tijd & Taak, Green Deal, Apr 2020, written by Tim Zeedijk
The Correspondent, In 2030, we ended the climate emergency. Here’s how, 8 Jan 2020, written by Eric Holthaus
LensCulture, Favorite Photobooks of 2019, Jan 2020. Selected by Taco Hidde Bakker
Trigger, FOMU magazine, Photographing the Anthropocene, Nov 2019. Written by Taco Hidde Bakker
Der Spiegel, Bild der Woche, ausgabe 35/2019, 24 Aug 2019
NRC, Luchtbellen van 20.000 jaar oud, 2 Aug 2019. Written by Gemma Venhuizen
Sir Edmund, de Volkskrant, Zee van plastic. 5 Jan 2019
Haagsche Handen, Plastic fossielen uit de toekomst, 28 Mar 2018. Written by Noortje Schrauwen
Podcasts / Radio
Trixie Podcast, Natural Dependencies, 2022. Conversation with Roland van Dierendonck & Catherine Ostraya
Podcast De Fotograaf, Cameranu.nl, 2022. Conversation with Maartje Strijbis
Podcast Radio Hortus, 2021, episode 22: Fungi & Fuchsia’s. Hortus Botanicus Leiden
Talks / Presentations
Nan Groot Antink & Sophie Steengracht & Suzette Bousema. 14 Nov 2021, Utrecht, Galerie Sanaa. Interviewed by Carine van Santen.
Super Organism, Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, 14 Jul 2021, with soil scientist Nadia Soudzilovskaia.
Super Organism, Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity, online, 22 Apr 2021
Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam Photo Talks, Rotterdam (NL), 8 Feb 2020
Royal Academy of Art, Open Day, Science or Photography?, The Hague (NL), 25 Jan 2020. With Marijn van der Leeuw
Stroom, Zefir7, Science or Photography? Design or Fine Art?, The Hague (NL), 15 Oct 2019. With Louisiana van Onna & Marijn van der Leeuw
Teaching
Preperatory Year Program, 6 week course: Go to the second year in 6 weeks. Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (NL), co-teacher Mafalda Rakoš, 2019-2022
Fotodok Visual Storytelling X GLU, Online (NL), 8 Dec 2020, co-teachers Jan Dirk van der Burg & Stacii Samidin
Workshop cyanotype printing, Muzee Scheveningen, Scheveningen (NL), 7 & 14 Aug 2019
Workshop ‘Speculative Beach Cleaning’, guest workshop in the class of Alice Twemlow ‘Future Fossils: A Design Archaeology of the Here and Now’, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (NL), 27 Mar 2019
Workshop cyanotype printing, The Greyspace In The Middle, The Hague (NL), 26 Jan 2018
Commissions
De Correspondent, ‘Jaarlijks verbranden we miljoenen tonnen kleding. Het goede nieuws: dat kán anders’, 26 Sept 2019. Written by Emy Demkes
Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research, NWO, Polar Symposium 2018, Tipping Point, The Hague (NL), 1 - 13 Dec 2018
Verbond van Verzekeraars, Hoofd Boven Water, The Hague (NL), 15 Sept 2018