Biography
Merel Hegenbart is a visual artist who works primarily with photography, alongside text fragments, correspondence, film and archival materials. Together these elements create a multimedia narrative that brings different perspectives into dialogue. Her practice explores human relationships, connection, loss, freedom and perception as recurring themes. While many of her projects begin from a documentary starting point, her conceptual approach and investigative attitude add layered, academic, and anthropological dimensions.
For Hegenbart, the creative process is never hidden but becomes a visible and essential part of the work itself. This openness invites the viewer to reflect, and transforms each project into both a story and an inquiry – examining not only what is represented, but also how storytelling unfolds and what photography, as a medium, can reveal, conceal or construct.
Publications
2025
'The Evert Collection', NRC Handelsblad, 21-02-2025
Books
2025
[Expected] 'I would love to make a photo project about you' [Book I/II] supported by Jaap Harten Fonds
2024
'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING' [Book II/II] - supported by Cultuurfonds
Book fairs
2024-2025
Buy My Darlings Amsterdam, 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING'
Polycopies Paris, 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING'
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING'
Unseen Amsterdam, 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING'
Exhibitions (selection)
2025
[Expected] NDSM Fuse, Amsterdam: SELFIE OF THE SOUL, 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING' and 'I would love to make a photo project about you'.
2024
Studio Borgerstraat, Rotterdam Art Week: 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING'.
2023
NDSM FUSE, Amsterdam: Tijdgeest & Spookbeelden, 'Inner Paradise' in collaboration with illustrator Carlyn Westerink.
2022
Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam: Night In / Day Out, 'TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING', curated by Aya Musa.
AREA 2022, Loods6, Amsterdam: 'I would love to make a photo project about you','TRY NOT TO CHANGE - PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES EVERYTHING' .
2021
FotoFestival Naarden: The Art Of Living, 'I would love to make a photo project about you'.
2021
Noorderlicht International Photo Festival, Groningen: The Makeable Mind, 'Bad News'.