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“I think I was naturally drawn to photography because back in the day, my dad had a lot of photographic equipment which meant I got my first camera at the age of 8. It was a green Kodak click camera and I was obsessed with it. Later on, I became interested in black and white photography and so my father showed me how to work in a dark room. Between the two of us, we put all our equipment in our tiny bathroom. It wasn’t until after secondary school, from advice taken from my teacher, that I decided to study art” says Tanja.

Tanja’s work usually starts with something she reads, whether it be a short headline on the web or a novel about a specific place. She is interested in the many layers that make up our landscapes such as history, culture and economics; ranging from the business district of London, to the rural Wyoming and the endless North sea. In Tanja’s recent projects, research into these landscapes has become an important focus.

“When photographic imagery and material play come together, the many layers like history and economy that make up a landscape come to life”

In one of Tanja’s recent projects, she was influenced by a newspaper article that she read about vacancy in the North Sea. She began to ask questions such as what constructions are these, who owns them and what is the scale of them? She began her investigation by reading about the offshore industry, meeting with people working on platforms and an ecologists conducting research on the wildlife. After trying hard to find a way to visit these places, she finally secured a spot on a vessel where she would soon spend two weeks filming and photographing. 

Back onshore... and the editing process begins. Cutting, pasting and making scaleable models is what enables Tanja to create a spatial experience and this is usually where other techniques also come into play. Most of the time,Tanja prints onto materials that are found in certain landscapes, altering the viewers experience of the image. 

For example in ‘Cities of desire’, Tanja has printed onto recycled material from the offshore industry in the North Sea. The rusty scratched steel and the different shades of grey, add texture and meaning to the image. Ideas of the future of the North Sea and its environmental issues are prominent through this technique and experience. 

During Tanja’s research and experimentation, a contextual frame work arises. Also, Italo Calvino’s Invisible cities is a major influence in Tanja’s work about the offshore. In this book Marco Polo talks with Kublai Kan about his travels. Tanja explains that “while speaking of imaginary cities, the conversation becomes like a game of chess. I loved the language of the book and the possibilities of these cities. They encompass both the emotional as the mathematical, and show a sense of fear and longing”. 

Bozeman’s Curse – Untitled VI By Tanja Engelberts Etch on brass € 3.500 Courtesy of Seelevel gallery

See here for more works by Tanja Engelberts