5 July 1972, is a Dutch photographer and visual artist. Born in Amsterdam, she spent part of her childhood in Kenya, an experience that has remained an important point of reference throughout her work. She initially studied fashion design before turning to photography, completing her education at the Utrecht School of the Arts and Ateliers Arnhem. She lives and works in Amsterdam.

Working across both fine art and fashion photography, she has developed a visual language characterized by bold color, geometric forms, shadow, collage, and the abstraction of the human body. Her photographs often fragment or conceal figures, transforming bodies into sculptural forms and exploring the relationship between representation and abstraction. Africa has remained a recurring subject in her work, informed by both personal experience and repeated returns to the continent.

Photobooks play a central role in her practice. Major publications include Flamboya (2008), Parasomnia (2011), In and Out of Fashion (2012), Pikin Slee (2014), Umbra (2015), Hot Mirror (2018), and the retrospective volume Phosphor(2023). Her books bring together personal, documentary, and fashion-related work, reflecting the fluid movement between artistic and commissioned photography that characterizes her career.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Biennale, the Nederlands Fotomuseum, the ICA in London, Fotografiska in Stockholm, and the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg. She received the Dutch Prix de Rome in 2007, the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography in 2011, and the David Octavius Hill Medal in 2015.

Reference
Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), German edition. Retrieved June 27, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viviane_Sassen