Between the ages of two and six, Viviane Sassen lived with her family in Kenya; her father, a doctor, worked at a local hospital. When the family returned to the Netherlands, in 1978, the Dutch artist felt a sense of estrangement. “I didn’t feel like I belonged in Europe,” she said, “and yet I knew I was a foreigner in Africa.” Sassen went on to receive an MFA in fashion design and photography from Ateliers Arnhem, but her work continues to draw heavily on those formative years in Kenya. The exhibition at MEP features the monograph “Flamboya” (2004–08), in which African subjects are rendered in an abstract, deeply shadowed style, as well as the series “Parasomnia” (2011), “Umbra” (2014), and “Roxanne” (2017). Photographs from Sassen’s boldly surreal fashion campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Stella McCartney, Miu Miu, and others are on view.
—Paulina Prosnitz