Photographer Fien Muller has a way of telling stories in still lifes. Whether she creates a striking “tableaux” with carefully arranged frozen fish or colourful scrap material, it’s always a feast for the eyes! To recognize her still lifes you need two ingredients: a white background with hanging/leaning/piling objects.

This can be green beans which become lively coloured shreds or  jet-black charcoal blocks contrasted with pieces of salmon. With minimal resources and a restrained rhetoric, playful and even baroque still lifes are created. “I come from a family of antique dealers, which influenced my view of things. Hence you can call my photographs a contemporary view of the still life. Sometimes they are a little absurd, sometimes humorous.”

A typical Belgian element which reoccurs can be found in an abstract variant of what was once the motto of surrealism (remember Magritte): the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a cutting table. Despite the choice of still lifes, many photographs suggest movement. Strings of material and paper float in the focal plane. A slice of bread seems to be carried by the wind, cubes change places.

We love the fact that a compact world arises in the small compositions, a toy theatre in a box.

© I Love Belgium

I LOVE BELGIUM

I LOVE BELGIUM

I LOVE BELGIUM

I LOVE BELGIUM

I LOVE BELGIUM