In all European countries, there are galleries, very active agents of transmission who, by their work of clearing, allow new talents to be shown on the international scene. In this context, it was not surprising to discover Ellen Kooi's work at Torch Gallery in Amsterdam, whose director Adrian Torch is known for discovering the talents of several generations of Dutch photographers.
Ellen Kooi's very particular imagery has several origins. First of all, her predilection for staging is undoubtedly derived from the theater, where she began her work as a photographer. It is obviously an inspiration in her compositions, she prefigures them with sketches, and, like a director, uses her models as actors. The viewer is often confronted with characters in incongruous positions/actions that she put in an urban environment or in green landscapes, such as six women fishing in an arc on a quay at the end of the world or a woman calling an unlikely interlocutor in front of a manhole.
Through these somewhat extravagant situations, we can also link his work to the surrealist universe. This penchant for the absurd and humor echoes the work of many Dutch artists such as Teun Hocks, who by his own stagings, is in line with this trend. At the same time, other characteristics of contemporary Dutch photography can be found in her work.
