Willem Popelier
works with photography
As visual artist and photographer, Willem Popelier is intrigued by how society treats photography and how it affects people. He makes work that emphasises, researches and questions how photos are commonly used. Thus his focus is mostly on popular culture, the ubiquitous image and its effects on society.
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News
Ephemeral days, lasting images. New work for PLINT 2025
Dutch foundation Plint, specialised in combining poetry and art, asked me to create work for their anual poetry calendar for 2025.
In line with the concept of Ephemeral Photographs, in the calendar each day of the year has one page with a Dutch poem, visible for 24 hours, which then can be torn out and thrown away.
Every poem is about love and there is always a different poet speaking - a wonderful overview of Dutch love poetry, from the early Middle Ages to the present.
I combined it with 365 fragments of 46 big pictures, spread out over the entire calendar.
On the back of each calendar page is a piece of a photo. Love requires attention and patience and
therefore I invite you to save the days, instead of discarding them.
Waiting is rewarded: if you place all the backs on, next to and over each other, bigger images become visible. This way you can save 46 poetry posters in one year.
The calendar is for sale in Dutch book stores and museum stores, or online at Plint.
The Do-It-Yourselfie Guide at Biennial of Digital Imaginaries 2024, South of France
The Biennial of Digital Imaginaries, organized by CHRONIQUES, is the highlight of digital arts and culture in the Southern region of France. Exploring the visual arts, the sound arts and live performance, the Biennial looks at the presence and use of digital and new technologies in art. This edition reflects on the place of pleasure in our daily lives, in a world of mounting environmental and social crises. The do-it-yourselfie guide is exhibited in a French translation in the show Like moi in Aux-en-Provence from November 8, 2024 to January 19, 2025.
Recent project Ephemeral photographs
Ephemeral Photographs investigates photography as a volatile medium, to question the value we assign to photos that we share with each other every day online. Ephemeral Photographs is a multi-layered and dynamic project in which online and offline are intertwined. The project was firstly shown at Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven, NL. During five weeks of the exhibition, each day a different image could be seen in the foundation and online on Instagram.
Perfect Spanish selfies with Tu Mejor Selfi
Tu Mejor Selfi, the Spanish version of The Do-It-Yourselfie Guide, is published by Libros Cupula. The perfect field guide for your selfies when you’re in Spain, or if you’re in any other country where they speak Spanish. You don’t need to worry anymore how you could make better selfies in Spanish. Just follow the rules in Tu Mejor Selfi. La guía definitiva para capturar la mejor versíon de ti mismo.
News Archive
Selected work
Ephemeral photographs
Investigating photography as a volatile medium.
Paris error
Documenting abstract and elusive feelings of the Paris terror attacks.
Your weekly president
A contemplative reflection on Barack Obama's 8 years in office as US president.
The do-it-yourselfie guide
Re-enaction of the most famous selfies on earth for the ultimate selfie guide.
En Vogue
Analytical view on the visual language of covers of fashion magazines.
Bruno dash Dutch
Portrayal of Bruno, right after his nationality turned from a dash into Dutch.
Inside Obama's compound
One transposed word and the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and US president is declared dead.
Obscured classified document (situation room)
Emphasising Hillary Clinton's pixelated document in the iconic Situation room picture.
The Osama papers
The visualisation of the death of Osama bin Laden in newspapers worldwide.
Showroom girls
The phenomenon of digital narcissism visualised by tracing two anonymous girls.
Showroom
A selection from thousands of anonymous selfies taken from showroom computers in stores.
This is me & this is me
The act of identifying in private images of an identical twin.
Visual proof of my existence
Collecting as much visual proof of being somewhere without bringing your own camera.
███ and Willem. Documentation of a youth
Questioning modern family relationships and how identity is perceived through photography.
Rejected identities
Focusing on the confrontation between personal identity and obligatory identification photography.
Information
Contact
mail[at]willempopelier.nl
+31(0)6 41 31 03 76
Bio
Willem Popelier is a visual artist and photographer, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is intrigued by how society treats photography and how it affects people. He makes work that emphasises, researches and questions how photos are commonly used. Thus his focus is mostly on popular culture, the ubiquitous image and its effects on society.
His work is exhibited worldwide, published in magazines such as C Photo and Foam Magazine, awarded with several prizes including a C/O Berlin Talent, a Bronze Medal for Best Book Design from all over the World, and nominated for the ICP Infinity Award and the Prix Pictet, among others. His work is included in the Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography.
Willem Popelier is tutor and co-course leader at the department of Photography at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and regularly gives lectures and workshops addressing the ubiquitous image, selfies, the role and implementation of artistic research, and more.