Series description
These are pictures from a small series I started myself. Each one is a collaboration, or a depiction of a community. My recent work has seen me work with the LGBTQ+, Afro-Caribbean and Muslim communities. I allow my curiosity to lead me in my work and talking to the people/community I’m depicting is a very important part of the process.
Biography
Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle (1997) is an Amsterdam based photographer and director, born in Belgium. She graduated in 2019 at Luca School of Arts Brussels with a project where she follows an Afro-American family. In 2021 Ines moved to Amsterdam and also directed her first video 'What Love Means' (awarded and seen at Vogue). The video is based on a poem by non-binary person Madonna Lenaert. Gender and talking about the spectrum of it is a theme in Ines' work since then.
Unlearn - Musia
Unlearn was made in 2021 in a studio in Belgium and is a project where we talk about what femininity/masculinity/gender means to four individuals. We question sentences that were told to us when we were little, such as ‘pink is for girls and cars are for boys’. Musia is a non-binary person who loves to embrace their femininity, but hates it when they need to pick only one gender for themselves.
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Nixie
Nixie is a non-binary person who lives with Eddy, who is also non-binary. At the time of this portrait, which was taken in 2021 at their home in Ghent, Belgium, Eddy was pregnant. They are now raising the child with a gender-neutral parenting style.
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Headwear in Our Pool
This is part of a 2022 collaboration between myself, Marc Martha and Eveline Briand, which aims to represent people who wear hijabs or other headpieces in the water, either because of their religion or to protect their hair. We were shocked by the number of public pools that did not accept this. However, Aqua Heaven – a private sauna – accepted us because they often have people with hijabs in their pools.
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Headwear in Our Pool
Numerous public pools and water sport facilities do not accept visitors who wear hijabs or other headpieces. This project, created in collaboration with Marc Martha and Eveline Briand, aimed to represent people who wear hijabs or other headpieces for religious and other reasons.
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Headwear in Our Pool
For my Headwear in Our Pool collaboration with Marc Martha and Eveline Briand it was important to show the hair of some of our models, as we wanted to break the idea that only more strict Muslims would like to cover their hair in the pool with something better than a plastic swimming cap.
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards
Fruit of Our Labour
Fruit of Our Labour is a series we made in 2022 for Martha’s collection of the same name, where he refers to the colonial past of the Afro-Caribbean community.
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, 2023 Sony World Photography Awards