The exhibition „Polaroids“ at Helmut Newton Foundation was favourably reviewed by ELLE Italia, mentioning in particular the works of Marike Schuurman.
Marike Schuurman makes full use of the unique characteristics of expired instant film for her experimental landscapes of the city of São Paulo. The large-scale works from her series „Expired“ are a commentary on the advertisement free streets of the city. The deliquescent, exquisitely colourful images, destroyed by time and saturated by the chemicals in the instant camera, are mysterious commentaries on their own disappearance.
In her Toxic series, which explores the mining region of Lusatia south of Berlin, she deliberately alters the colors and atmosphere of SX-70 prints, using the acidic water from craters left behind by coal mining. Schuurman took polaroids of the surface of these man-made toxic lakes and let the image develop inside the water. The different PH levels of the water, interacting with the acids of the Polaroids themselves, allowed a variety of shapes and colors to emerge: A visual manifestation of the un-naturalness of water. Presented in plexiglass boxes, Schuurman emphasizes the „untouchability“ of her source material.
In addition, the works by Marike Schuurman is on view at Helmut Newton Foundation as part of the exhibition „Polaroids“ till 17th of the August.
Photo: Exhibition view „Polaroids“, Gerhard Kassner, Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin, 2025.
Read article here.
07 March – 17 August 2025
