About

Robin de Puy’s (b.1986, the Netherlands) photographs start with a desire to tell her own story through the faces of others. Whether it’s the freckled adolescent she noticed whilst refuelling in Wyoming, the Dutch author, poet and columnist Remco Campert, or the boy Randy she met in Nevada whilst on her American road trip, de Puy sees the camera as an aid to understand the deeply personal traits and histories of each person, and how they also reveal something about herself. Many of her encounters are fleeting; a heartfelt glance into the life of someone else before time resumes its frantic pace. In others, as with Randy, those same transient experiences blossom into profound and enduring relationships. Regardless of which ending they have, de Puy’s photographs are always imbued with a sensitivity and timelessness that encourages a slow gaze on the human condition. Her images are chances for genuine human connection, and through sharing with them with the world, allow us to take part in such moments.

Bio

Robin de Puy studied at the Fotoacademie Rotterdam and has been exhibited internationally at institutions and galleries including; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht (2018); Museum Hilversum, Hilversum (2017); The Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague (2016); Stedelijk Museum, Breda (2016) and Photoville, New York (2016). Amongst numerous other awards, De Puy was the winner of the National Portrait Prize in both 2013 and 2019. Her work is held in major public and private collections including Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; De Nederlandse Bank, Amsterdam; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; Centraal Museum Utrecht, Utrecht; Fotomuseum Den Haag, The Hague; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague.

“A Joyous, Mysterious Portrait of Rural American Boyhood.” ~ The New Yorker about her project RANDY

In 2015, de Puy took a 10,000 km road trip across the US on a Harley Davidson, making images that were published as the book If This Is True, I’ll Never Have to Leave Home Again in 2016. The trip was documented by Simone de Vries and Maarten van Rossem, and the film was nominated for an International Emmy Award in 2017.

“The American road trip is a photographic trope that’s often abused by countless photographers, but Robin de Puy, through her truly personal approach, has produced an opus that sets her apart from the masses. Her American road trip spanned 8,000 miles on a motorcycle, but you’ll rarely see pictures of stunning landscapes in her work. Instead, the Dutch photographer chose to focus on the people she met – sharing personal experiences that many photographers would shun. The result is a stunning study of today’s America made all the more relevant after Donald Trump’s election.” ~ TIME MAGAZINE about her first book 'If This Is True'. 


Agenda

...


Awards

Zilveren Camera, Storytelling Prize
Nominated, 2024

De Tegel Storimans
Nominated, 2023

Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize
Nominated, 2022

Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize
Winner, 2019

LensCulture Portrait Awards
Winner, 2018

ADCN
Nomination craft photography, 2018

National Portrait Prize
Nomination, 2017

Lens Culture
Jurors’ Pick, 2017

Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize
Winner, 2019

LensCulture Portrait Awards
Winner, 2018

National Portrait Prize
Nomination, 2017

Lens Culture
Jurors’ Pick, 2017

Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize
Winner, 2019

LensCulture Portrait Awards
Winner, 2018

ADCN
Nomination craft photography, 2018

National Portrait Prize
Nomination, 2017

Lens Culture
Jurors’ Pick

Past exhibitions

Masterly women, group exhibition
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Schiedam, The Netherlands

25.05.2019 – 30.06.2019
MARVELOUS MISFITS - group exhibition
Naarden, The Netherlands

02.02 2019 – 16.03.2019
LOVE ME - solo exhibition
THE RAVESTIJN GALLERY
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

26.01.2018 – 13.05.2018
RANDY - solo exhibition
Bonnefantenmuseum
Maastricht, The Netherlands

17.06.2017 – 20.08.2017
LOOKING FOR AMERICA
Museum Hilversum
Hilversum, The Netherlands

15.09.2016 – 30.10.2016
UNCLE JAN
Breda’s Museum
Breda, The Netherlands

22.10.2016 – 26.02.2017
If This Is True (selection)
Girlgaze / Annenberg Space for Photography
Los Angeles, USA

21.09.2016 – 25.09.2016
If This Is True (selection) - PHOTOVILLE
Brooklyn Bridge Park - New York, USA

01.03.2016 – 26.06.2016
If This Is True - solo exhibition
The Hague Museum of Photography
The Hague, The Netherlands

25.03.2014 – 13.04.2014
The Art of Energy
Pulchri
The Hague, The Netherlands

19.01.2013 – 03.03.2013
Zilveren Camera
The Hague Museum of Photography
The Hague, The Netherlands

10.01.2013 – 17.03.2013
MOAM&FOAM FOAM Editions
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

01.04.2010 – 15.04.2010
De Westergasfabriek Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

25.03.2010 – 24.04.2010
De Winkelhaak Antwerpen
Antwerpen, Belgium

29.08.2009 – 25.10.2009
Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

05.09.2009 – 20.09.2009
Fotomuseum Den Haag
The Hague, The Netherlands

2024

Emily, Twin Falls, ID

Emily (6), Twin Falls, Idaho

Drowned in dark thoughts I wander through a big Walmart in Twin Falls, Idaho. It is the intense gaze of a young girl that brings me back to earth. In times of despair the look of the kid is comforting as well as painful: the ultimate imagination of innocence, which only a child can show. Sitting in a shopping cart, being pushed by her big sister, the world is passing by.

I would love to photograph the girl. I nervously approach them, scared of being rejected. “Is your mom here too?”, I ask. “She in the restroom, but she will be back soon”, the sister says. Meanwhile the bright blue eyes of the little girl are starring right through me. I try to keep the conversation going, without appearing to be a creepy stalker. When the mother joins us, the big sister has already found me on Instagram and wants to take a selfie with me. Mom is keeping an appropriate distance and I see her – understandable – concerns. I give her my phone number and await. Not much later I receive the message I was hoping for: “You can come over.”

The name of the girl is Emily. Her intellectual disability sometimes makes things harder, but because of the loving presence of big sister Kenzie (15), brother Lucas (8), mom Ashley (40) and dog Piper she can move quite carelessly through life. In contradiction with a lot of struggling parents, her mom has, with the help of school and doctors, paved a way through the complex American bureaucracy with as a result a happy, healthy kid in school. “Without the help I could not have done it.”

Like a little kitten Emily plays in the grass. Continuously she is approaching me closer and closer, followed by running away or hiding in her pink jacket. Everything is sweet about her. Her light, fine hairs, the bread crumbs on her chin, the small hands which are holding a (still frozen) peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the nearly rolling tear that arises because of the wind and the accompanying booger

An innocent child. Freely she rolls through the grass and I roll with her. I want nothing more than to forget or not know – it works.

View 2023
Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders - Die Zeit Magazine

Reflecting on our turbulent times, Senator Bernie Sanders takes on the billionaire class and speaks blunt truths about our country’s failure to address the destructive nature of a system that is fueled by uncontrolled greed and rigidly committed to prioritizing corporate profits over the needs of ordinary Americans.

Robinde Puy