©Rogier Houwen, Cloud Wave Tree, 2022

Guest Editor and German photographer Melanie Schoeniger shares a week of European photographers whose work she finds inspiring. Schoeniger’s sensibility is translated through the work she shares; all the photographer’s work has a sense of mystery, interconnectedness and wonder. Schoeniger states:

There is this ephemeral radiance in Rogier Houwen’s work, as if a vibrant energy – invisible on the plane of daily life and reality – was rendered visible, a curtain drawn, a veil lifted. The veils of perception seem to be permeable for his lens. An incredible calm and soothing presence draws us into this peaceful, alluring dimension where we replenish and linger with the idea of forever. I love soaking in his meditative images with their extraordinary glowing details and breathtaking compositions that to me are mere portals to transcendence.

Rogier Houwen (1992, Netherlands) is a fine-art photographer who focuses on the unity of earthly nature and cosmic nature. He is known for his depictions of mystical landscapes, metaphysical abstractions, symbolic still lives and serene portraits, which are all hinting at cosmic awareness.

Enjoy images from his series “Above Below” where Houwen surveys the unifying play of duality, rendering visible antagonistic dimensions like spiritual and physical, mysterious and mundane.

©Rogier Houwen, Sunbath III, 2023

©Rogier Houwen, This Way, 2022

About Rogier Houwen’s ongoing project “Above Below”

The Above refers to the sky, the cosmic and the spiritual. The Below refers to our planet, the earthly and the physical. An old saying as above so below suggests that these two dimensions – the cosmic and the earthly – are a reflection of one another, working together as two layers of the same existence. In the exhibition Above Below, these two realities are brought together in a visual poem about the human experience of being connected to cosmic nature.

In this project Rogier Houwen observes the interplay between the cosmic and the earthly. The cycle of the moon is reflected in the tides of the ocean and the cycle of the sun is reflected in the seasons. At night, the sunlit moon illuminates the first spring blossoms while a candle reveals a luminous spot before the light extinguishes. Stars are born and pass away and in a cup of hot chocolate we are shown a solar eclipse. These observations all relate to the sense that we have when we are out in nature, gazing at the stars; a sense of being grand and small, spiritual and physical, mystical and mundane, all at the same time, in unity.

©Rogier Houwen, Sunbath IV, 2023

©Rogier Houwen, Flowers, Crickets, Fireflies V, 2023

©Rogier Houwen, Spring II, 2022

About Rogier Houwen:

While Houwen travels the world he captures the atmosphere of a landscape, a microscopic detail of a plant and ecological artefacts. He observes nature’s elements and ecological phenomena such as moonlit leaves, the weight of a stone, spring blossoms at night and a glowing dot above an extinguished candle. Through his contemplative photographic practice and his passion for printing, he transmits his visions onto thin Kozo paper in multiple layers. Houwen’s self-printed photographs are at a first glance often perceived as drawings.

At the age of 25 Rogier Houwen had a spontaneous transcendental experience in which his individual consciousness dissolved into what he calls cosmic consciousness. Pointing at the unity of the individual and the cosmic is the central motive behind his latest series Above Below: an ongoing project bringing forth a message of interconnectedness. In this body of work themes such as non- duality, enlightenment, quantum physics, meditation, birth, death and the beyond are touched upon and contemplated through photographs, an array of drawing- and printing techniques and writings.

©Rogier Houwen, Komorebi, 2023

“Whether it’s a landscape, a human being, a plant or an object, everything radiates a certain atmosphere. These atmospheres – the subtle vibrations that can be felt – are my subjects. My work is not about what is seen but what is felt through the seen.” – Rogier

©Rogier Houwen, 500Thz, 2022

©Rogier Houwen, Sunset, 2022

“In the midst of our daily lives, we can lose touch with the cosmic context we live in. Paying attention to the interconnectedness of all things and beings brings forth a sense of wholeness and peace; an experience that seems to be much needed in the world.” – Rogier

©Rogier Houwen, Candle, 2022

©Rogier Houwen, Midnight Sun, 2022

Rogier will have a solo presentation of his work at Kunstrai, Amsterdam, this month and a solo exhibition at Colorwood Collection, Waddinxveen Netherlands in April.

This spring and summer he will travel through Mexico’s landscapes to create new work and expand his project “Above Below” which will be exhibited in Mexico City later this year.

You can find more of his work on his website and Instagram: @rogierhouwen.