Photographer Scarlett Hooft Graafland (1973) won the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize in 2012. Scarlett’s chosen destination for her trip was the Altiplano in Bolivia. The Altiplano in the highlands of Bolivia is one of her favorite destinations—a place she has been visiting since 2004.
Part of the Inspiration series, the book featuring her work entitled, Scarlett Hooft Graafland in Altiplano, was written by Alain-Paul Mallard and published by Waanders. The exhibition Scarlett Hooft Graafland in Altiplano was displayed at Royal Delft in 2012.
Scarlett Hooft Graafland completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and went on to earn a Master’s in Sculpture from Parsons School of Design in New York. Her installations consist of temporary sculptures, often placed in inhospitable areas. Graafland further takes extraordinary photographs her works with her analog camera.
Scarlett’s photographs are unedited analogs. Graafland spent 10 years working in the high plains of Bolivia, has stayed in the Inuit village of Igloolik (in the Canadian Arctic) several times, and has toured the African island of Madagascar. Each of these places and voyages are reflected in her works. To create her works, Scarlett travels to remote areas where traditional culture is still virtually intact and people live close to unspoiled nature; places such as the Canadian Arctic, rural China, the highlands of Bolivia, Madagascar, Iceland and Vanuatu. Alongside the locals, she creates playful, sculptural performances in the landscape, which she then photographs. This results in magical and poetic images that merge reality and fiction. Flying bowler hats in the desert, children painted blue under a shelter, reindeer antlers floating in the ice: the beautiful photographs stimulate our imaginations whilst serving as a call to action that reminds us to be especially careful with our planet.
For her inspiration trip, Scarlett travelled to Bolivia. Scarlett: “Bolivia is a very inspiring place for me because of the overwhelming nature on the plateaus of the Altiplano. This evokes a huge sense of freedom. It is inspiring that the indigenous people treat nature with such respect. In Bolivia, anything is possible.” The trip was inspiring and Scarlett experimented a great deal with materials such as herbs from the market, powders, fireworks and dynamite. Scarlett: “In the salt flats I worked a lot with large loading trucks, weather balloons and bowler hats. I’ve tried a lot, like making things float or explode. Worked with the elements. Sometimes things worked and sometimes they didn’t, but creating that space ultimately turned in many good results. Sometimes something has to fail first in order to arrive at something more powerful at a later time.”
According to Scarlett, the surreal landscapes, framed by the blue skies above, prompt you to imagine yourself in Magritte’s paintings. Scarlett: “And because of the vastness and the total freedom you feel, you get the sense that anything is possible there.” The endless, almost blindingly white salt desert Salar de Uyuni resembles an immense sheet of blank drawing paper that inspires Scarlett.
During her excursion to Bolivia, Scarlett embarked on a road trip alongside a group of Bolivian men. They slept in the car on several occasions. Scarlett did not know the men; there was simply trust between the members of their little group. This experience, unique and less likely to occur in larger city, is only one example of the things that rendered the trip particularly special for her.
The van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize has garnered Scarlett a lot of positive publicity. Scarlett: “This is very nice and important in taking the work a step further. And what I do more often now is, show the process of creating some my works—usually in the form of video.”
Scarlett is currently doing well: “I’m preparing an exhibition in Istanbul for 2024, wherein I’m going to show a lot of work that I’m creating in Turkey. Just as in Bolivia, I have now also found a group of people in Turkey with whom I work and travel around the country. In this case they are circus artists. I don’t have as much freedom as I had in Bolivia now, but it is a great experience to be able to create this work. I am also preparing for my exhibition at the Panorama Mesdag Museum. And in March 2024, I’ll be showing work at the New York Public Library.”
Scarlett Hooft Graafland completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and went on to earn a Master’s in Sculpture from Parsons School of Design in New York. Her installations consist of temporary sculptures, often placed in inhospitable areas. Graafland further takes extraordinary photographs her works with her analog camera.
Scarlett’s photographs are unedited analogs. Graafland spent 10 years working in the high plains of Bolivia, has stayed in the Inuit village of Igloolik (in the Canadian Arctic) several times, and has toured the African island of Madagascar. Each of these places and voyages are reflected in her works. To create her works, Scarlett travels to remote areas where traditional culture is still virtually intact and people live close to unspoiled nature; places such as the Canadian Arctic, rural China, the highlands of Bolivia, Madagascar, Iceland and Vanuatu. Alongside the locals, she creates playful, sculptural performances in the landscape, which she then photographs. This results in magical and poetic images that merge reality and fiction. Flying bowler hats in the desert, children painted blue under a shelter, reindeer antlers floating in the ice: the beautiful photographs stimulate our imaginations whilst serving as a call to action that reminds us to be especially careful with our planet.
For her inspiration trip, Scarlett travelled to Bolivia. Scarlett: “Bolivia is a very inspiring place for me because of the overwhelming nature on the plateaus of the Altiplano. This evokes a huge sense of freedom. It is inspiring that the indigenous people treat nature with such respect. In Bolivia, anything is possible.” The trip was inspiring and Scarlett experimented a great deal with materials such as herbs from the market, powders, fireworks and dynamite. Scarlett: “In the salt flats I worked a lot with large loading trucks, weather balloons and bowler hats. I’ve tried a lot, like making things float or explode. Worked with the elements. Sometimes things worked and sometimes they didn’t, but creating that space ultimately turned in many good results. Sometimes something has to fail first in order to arrive at something more powerful at a later time.”
According to Scarlett, the surreal landscapes, framed by the blue skies above, prompt you to imagine yourself in Magritte’s paintings. Scarlett: “And because of the vastness and the total freedom you feel, you get the sense that anything is possible there.” The endless, almost blindingly white salt desert Salar de Uyuni resembles an immense sheet of blank drawing paper that inspires Scarlett.
During her excursion to Bolivia, Scarlett embarked on a road trip alongside a group of Bolivian men. They slept in the car on several occasions. Scarlett did not know the men; there was simply trust between the members of their little group. This experience, unique and less likely to occur in larger city, is only one example of the things that rendered the trip particularly special for her.
The van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize has garnered Scarlett a lot of positive publicity. Scarlett: “This is very nice and important in taking the work a step further. And what I do more often now is, show the process of creating some my works—usually in the form of video.”
Scarlett is currently doing well: “I’m preparing an exhibition in Istanbul for 2024, wherein I’m going to show a lot of work that I’m creating in Turkey. Just as in Bolivia, I have now also found a group of people in Turkey with whom I work and travel around the country. In this case they are circus artists. I don’t have as much freedom as I had in Bolivia now, but it is a great experience to be able to create this work. I am also preparing for my exhibition at the Panorama Mesdag Museum. And in March 2024, I’ll be showing work at the New York Public Library.”
