NAKED IDENTITY
Amsterdam, September 2022
10 things you need to know about Amsterdam-based photographer and videographer Lara Verheijden. The artist captures relationships with her subjects which open the door to notions of nudity beyond discomfort, exploring the visual narratives around the naked or partly clothed body, and identity. Her artfully curated nude calendar series is a censorship free wall ornament without a strategically placed fruit bowl in sight. She's a sought-after photographer with a reinventive take on the female gaze, shooting for many magazines and staging many exhibitions. Her work is direct but most often is really, simply, about the beauty of the people she photographs.
SHE USED TO BE A FASHION STYLIST
“I had a love for fashion and in particular indie fashion, and dressing up and expressing myself via clothing, so I started out working as a stylist for indie brands or graduate fashion students. That concept of looking in the mirror to see what character I wanted to be that day was the catalyst for me developing an interest in the way people look or express themselves and behave.”
AMSTERDAM’S CHEEKY VINTAGE TOURIST POSTCARDS INSPIRED HER NUDE CALENDAR SERIES
“When you’re an artist or a photographer and interested in people, nudity is just an element of that with people, and it came quite naturally for me to want to explore that. I began shooting fashion stuff with models like my muse Sophie, but the calendar was really the start of my trajectory into exploring people and nudity and it came quite randomly to me. My cousin had asked me to shoot a rugby calendar for his team as a fundraiser, and it never transpired, but then the idea of a calendar stuck with me, as I have always liked the merchandise aspect of photography, like postcards or T-shirts. Amsterdam is so famous for its open attitudes, and in lots of the shops there are these vintage postcards with ‘Greetings from Amsterdam’ and a picture of a naked girl on a bike. So, I was really quite inspired by this idea of making the city an icon for free and sexual imagery in a happy and uncomplicated way.”
Right Hasenheide, 2020, by Lara Verheijden
JUERGEN TELLER AND HELMUT NEWTON ARE HER PHOTOGRAPHY HEROES
“Juergen Teller looks at fashion and nudity in an artistic way, as does Helmut Newton, and that has always inspired me. I also like Terry Richardson’s take on it in some of his older work.”
SHE THINKS NUDITY CAN BE AN OUTFIT WE CHOOSE TO WEAR
“I play with the concept of being desirable, as people in this day and age are so self-conscious and aware, and the whole idea of wanting to be in a nude calendar is already built into the people I shoot. It’s an exhibitionist idea, and it’s in the public space, it’s not an art book, it’s for people to hang in their house. So, my pictures connect with how people want to display themselves, or what their sexual identity is. Nudity can be an outfit, and everyone has their own way, which can go hand in hand with the desirability aspect, but it can also counter it, and the person can act it out in the way they pose or how they choose to be photographed.”
SHE’S REINVENTING THE GAZE
“When I shoot women, I always project myself into that situation. I think in our culture, we have a database of different depictions of women, from a sexual object to a mother, or a muse or dominator, to an empowered person or a more submissive person. There can be so many dierent visual documentations of relationships and situations too, like a couple who are lovers, or swingers, or platonic friends, and I think subconsciously they are all part of our collected memory. We have all these archetypes and I play with those and in that way I don’t have to desire my subjects, to portray them in a way to be desired.”
SHE HAS EXPLORED HER OWN IDENTITY THROUGH SELF-PORTRAIT
“When I stand in front of a mirror naked and am getting dressed, you look at yourself to see what looks good and bad, and how you become more or less desirable, and that might not deliberately or consciously be something you think about – but when you’re young and going through puberty for example, you discover all of this about yourself. So, I take that discovery element and play with it in my self-portraits.”
Left Family portrait, 2020, by Lara Verheijden
Right Poppy in the sun, 2020, by Lara Verheijden
SHE LOVES THE MIX OF REACTIONS SHE GETS WHEN SHOOTING OUTDOORS IN PUBLIC
“I get all sorts of reactions and I really like that aspect of what I do. Sometimes I’ll get a wry smile or a little laugh or people who are intrigued but don’t want to show it. I normally do the shoots quite early in the morning, so we don’t get bothered by too many people – but this year we did one at a festival where we were given permission to shoot in an open "eld and it was intense, especially for the models with so many people around them, but it also gave a me a lot of adrenaline as it felt like such a performance.”
HER INSTAGRAM BIO SAYS THAT HER WORK IS NOT FOR EVERYONE, BUT IT IS ACTUALLY
“I do casting calls via Instagram and I get hundreds of responses from people who want to explore the idea of shooting nude, or who have done it before and want to do more. I’ve always been drawn to open-minded people, and some of the models are also friends and people I found through my work as a fashion photographer. Being comfortable is very courageous, and if I’m relaxed and not making a big deal out of it, then I think people just go with it. I’m also very directive and I know what I want, so I think that helps make the people I shoot know what to do, so they don’t have to perform for me or think on the spot.”
SHE’S NOT A FAN OF INSTAGRAM’S CENSORSHIP ON NUDITY POLICY
“I think Instagram is a necessary evil, it’s a medium to reach people and share images, but then they have these puritan American rules about sharing nude imagery. I’m very dependent on it and I love it because it brings me into contact with all sorts of people, but on the other hand, I’ve also been deleted twice and shadowbanned, so it’s not an ideal world for my work!”
SHE WANTS TO ADD MORE CITIES AND A DIVERSE MIX OF PEOPLE TO HER NUDE CALENDAR SERIES
“It’s a consequence of the casting I do through Instagram, that the audience are younger on that platform, so it’s a bit tricky to find older people to shoot as they’re less inclined to react to the casting call. But I really want to dive into that side of things more so will need to work in a different way like street casting or hiring a casting director. I will also definitely add more cities, and I think it’s interesting to pick random people from different cities, because everyone has a naked identity, and for me to let go of control more in the casting process, and work with what I have in the moment, could be really challenging and interesting.”
Right Couple at Alexanderplatz, 2022, by Lara Verheijden
Interview by Kate Lawson
Photography by Gregory Derkenne