Wija de Boer

Wija’s practice develops/revolves around the medium of photography. Her working method is linked to the process of photography but this never results in a photograph. In this process she centralizes three terms; the photographer, the medium and the representation. In her practice she plays with these terms; which ones can she afford to lose, and which must stay - or are they inherently intertwined? Wija looks at these three terms like a Roman chariot race: there are three horses in front of the chariot. One of them is the photographer, one of them is the medium and one of them is the representation. Wija is the Roman who controls the horses.

The reason why Wija wants to play with photography is because photographs have disappointed her. Photography promises to be able to copy reality because it’s a documentation medium, but to Wija, it hasn’t kept this promise. Reality has way more layers and information than a photograph. In her practice, Wija tries to find these layers in the medium of photography, instead of the photograph itself. She tries to find the layers through the material value of the medium. The material and historical value of the medium provides more layering, depth and information about the image than a photograph with representative content.

In her work ‘Het Duel’ Wija examines the beauty of the medium of photography versus representative content. She collected the ends of analog film rolls, in which there is no representative content - only colors and abstract shapes. The ends of the film rolls contain poetic landscapes, abstract forms and unexpected colors that never cease to surprise, whereas the representative content disappoints in the limited subject possibilities. The ends of film rolls leave room for imagination to the viewer and give the viewer insight to the material value of the medium, while the representative content shows a mimetic unimaginative image. For Wija, this is the reason why the ends of film rolls win the duel over and over again.

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