Ilaria Bevan in Conversation with Portrait Photographer Isabelle van Zeijl

Isabelle van Zeijl is one of the most enigmatic and imaginative figures working with photography today. An established mid-career artist, Isabelle imbues new meaning into relationships between humanity, feminine power, and modern and historical concepts of beauty to create artworks that speak to each individual viewer in unique and deeply profound ways. Occupying the role of both creator and muse, Isabelle lives out the process of subverting traditional artistic expectations by marrying modern concepts with historical aesthetics. 

In 2017, Isabelle was awarded the inaugural Young Masters Emerging Woman Artist Award, given to an emerging woman contemporary artist who utilises concepts, themes, and aesthetics from the art of the past to inform their work. This award is one of twelve awards and prizes offered by Young Masters, a not-for-profit organisation established in 2009 by Cynthia Valianti Corbett, founder of Cynthia Corbett Gallery, with a dedicated Ceramics Prize added in 2014 to celebrate contemporary craft. All artists shortlisted for the Young Masters Art Prize 2023 were featured in an exhibition in two parts at 67 York Street in central London, coinciding with Frieze week in October 2023. The exhibition was in two parts: the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize shortlist exhibition and the Young Masters Art Prize shortlist exhibition. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony on 10 October 2023. For full details on the winners please visit the website. 

In this exclusive with MADE IN BED, Isabelle shares her story of becoming an artist, her empowering relationship with nature, the inner workings of her creative processes, and her experience winning the prestigious Young Masters Emerging Women Artist Award.

Ilaria Bevan: Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you first get involved in photography, and where did your practice start?

Isabelle van Zeijl: I grew up in a highly creative family in the Netherlands, and I was surrounded by Art History books on the Renaissance, Old Masters, and architecture because my father was an architect and my mother was a textile designer. Fashion magazines from the 1980s were also always around when I was little as I grew up in that decade. 

I was exposed to belittling violence and aggression. To survive these troubled times, I started painting and drawing self-portraits to hold on to my true essence, who I truly was. I absorbed the artworks of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (1485-6), Vermeer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt - all those Dutch Old Masters - and also the supermodels on the cover of the Fashion magazines from the eighties. They radiated a certain power, confidence, and freedom to me, even though I was six years old. I wanted to become like them because I wanted to be free and strong.  

IB: Where do you find your inspiration?

IVZ: It all started with questioning myself: what human being do I need to forge myself into to make a change in the world? How can I use my burden to bring light into the world?  Mostly, my inspiration comes from my own life experiences since I believe these are universal. We all go through the same cycle and face the same obstacles. As I mentioned, Dutch Old Masters and 80s supermodels were hugely influential at the beginning - you can see snippets of this in my earlier series.  

Also, when you go through my body of work, you can see references to famous Dutch fashion designers like Iris van Herpen, Jan Taminiau, and Claes Iversen. I reshaped their designs into new forms; I believe in reinvention and reinventing ourselves repeatedly. Nothing stands still. There's always change. That's the only truth we have - you must embrace change and reinvent yourself repeatedly.  

Nature is also a huge source of inspiration for me. Each flower on earth radiates a certain energy in its surroundings. In that sense, I believe flowers have a strong healing power on human beings. They can absorb people’s toxic moods and attitudes, stress, and disharmonious energies. In my work as an artist, I strive to bring healing through my art. The flower series resonates with calmness and balance and purifies our energy. Nature offers us stillness; in stillness, you can hear your inner voice, giving you all the answers you need.  

IB: Where in nature do you find yourself drawn to?

IVZ: I live in the Netherlands, close to the beach. Dunes and the forest also surround me, so I go there. But also I love to travel to Aspen to go to the mountains. On my wishlist are all the American national parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone.

IB: With all these sources of inspiration feeding into your work, your photographs are incredibly complex. How do people react to them?

IVZ: My work has many layers. The surface is beautiful, inviting the viewer to enter the image. Then, when you look closer, you see a real woman behind the lens, with real-life challenges created by universal obstacles. We all go through the same life cycles, hitting the same bumps in the road. I believe when we open up and share our real stories, we can connect and inspire each other to grow. 

Many of the titles of my work refer to nature and its symbolic meaning. For example, the words soil and soul sound very similar to each other. When we reflect on cultivating our outer garden, it is the same as cultivating the soul of our inner garden. We often think of soil as dirty, and dirt is bad. But as we all know, beautiful flowers grow out of the darkest soil. 

IB: Out of all these natural forms, what is the most beautiful and what makes you select certain types over others? 

IVZ: The first flower I started to work with was the orchid. This decision was intuitive. Afterwards, I look up the symbolic meaning - I always work this way. Oddly, the symbolic meanings always seem to reference my own life experiences. When I started to work with the orchid, it was just after a time that I went through a difficult period. Orchids have been revered by different cultures around the world for centuries, from ancient China and Japan to ancient Greece and throughout Europe and even in Aztec and Incan traditions. Due to their delicate fragrance and graceful figure, orchids are associated with ideal feminine beauty. Orchids symbolise love, beauty, and strength.  

I read the story about a Dutch botanist, who was also from The Hague, where I am based, which was very meaningful. In 1825, he went to Java, Indonesia, where he thought he saw butterflies whirling along the tree. But when he came closer, he discovered this orchid, Phalaenopsis.  

Incidentally, I wanted to make a work with butterflies, but the butterflies couldn't work with my practice. I didn't want to work with dead butterflies, and it is horrible how humans kill butterflies. But the symbolic meaning of the evolution of a butterfly from a caterpillar to being in a cocoon to coming out and becoming a butterfly is beautiful. It doesn't think about how to spread their wings. It just does it. Nature teaches us so many lessons. Nature is our biggest healer. When you enter nature, you must be in the present moment, look deep into it, and be silent. Stillness speaks; every answer you're seeking is just coming to you. It sounds very spiritual, but we need that silence in our daily lives to find our voice and encourage you to grow.  

IB: Your works are wonderfully staged and very elaborate but still retain this natural organic beauty. How do you design a photograph's concept, keeping these natural forms in mind? 

IVZ: That is mostly intuitive. I'm always looking for empowering shapes that lift you up and enlighten you. Empowerment and enlightenment allow one to escape for a little bit from daily drudgery. It also helps us train our minds to operate at a higher frequency and vibrate higher. That's what I strive to do with my work - to inspire you. 

IB: If you could be a flower, which one do you think you would be?

IVZ: I am not sure I would want to be an orchid, but it is the most meaningful to me. I would choose a lotus because it is the oldest and most meaningful flower in the world.

IVZ: I am represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery, and Cynthia encouraged me to apply. When you're just starting as an artist, you need the stamp of approval and markers of value to be seen by a wider audience and build your career. That's the whole key. That's the essence of the Young Masters Art Prize. The context of the Prize was more than perfect for my work due to my blend of contemporary ideas with references from the past. 

The Prize has had a huge impact on my career. Since I won the award, my work has become more internationally recognised by collectors, institutions, and prestigious hotels. For example, the winning work was included in The Four Seasons George V in Paris and was included in museum collections. The editions of those works are completely sold out. Then, my work was featured on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and got a lot of press. Everything starts to grow as your audience grows; the next step is to have a solo show, which I had with Cynthia Corbett Gallery in 2019. It is all building blocks.  

IB: How do people react to your work?

IVZ: When my gallerist, Cynthia Corbett, started to show my work internationally and I went to art fairs and shows where she showed my work, I met collectors and started to share my story; they started to open up as well. When you are being vulnerable, you really connect with people. So, they also felt safe to share their stories with me. I learned they could identify with my story, my work, and the energy in them in the way they wanted or needed to evolve strength, resilience, or vulnerability in themselves. And over time, I could tell why certain people bought certain pieces - because they longed to develop those qualities themselves. Collectors also told me they wanted to surround themselves with beauty because it purified and healed them.  

That's why I started to make my work, and that's why I became an artist. I think everyone has a gift. Mine is to offer healing through the beauty in my work, and the whole purpose is to share your gift with the world.  

IVZ: Yes. In general, I think when you heal yourself, the result will also be that others around you heal as well. It's been scientifically proven that beauty has a healing power on us. If you go back 140 million years, flowers were the first things humans came to see that had no reference to survival, and we experienced a sense of beauty for the first time; it changed our whole perspective, and it awakened them. It was the start of becoming more conscious, from surviving to becoming more self-conscious.  

IB: How does having so many people know about your work make you feel?

IVZ: First of all, I'm beyond grateful. The illustration of success is like an iceberg.  With its two parts, icebergs are an excellent metaphor for success. Everyone can see success and accomplishments (the part of the iceberg above the water line). What people don't see is all of the time, hard work, commitment and perseverance it took to achieve that success. People mostly don't see how much work you put into it. I am grateful that I worked hard to achieve success. 

IB: What advice would you give your 2017 self?

IVZ: It's the same advice that I keep repeating to myself - believe. Believe, believe, believe, and stay focused. That's what it is. Also, be aware of your limiting beliefs. We all have them. I would say stop listening to that limiting belief, that little voice, as it won't take you anywhere. Hard work and trust will. Don't fear rejection or failure; it's not going to help you. 

IB: Equality for women and advocacy for women’s rights is an enormous part of your practice. How do issues of misogyny, sex discrimination and violence against women inform your practice?

IVZ: When I photograph myself, I am totally focused. I am in the present moment. I become one with it. I use my body to represent power in both physical and spiritual ways. The naked body plays a role in depicting the power over my own body, but also as a doorway to go within to connect with my own inner strength. To become one with your body and soul.  Some of the earliest art that survived depict the human body. Most of these early works give us an impression of idealised female beauty. And female beauty ideals have been hammered out almost exclusively by men. The body is a subject that has endured over centuries, and it has been revisioned over and over in contemporary art.  

My body is my canvas. It is my subject and object; in this case, the viewer and creator are one, a female person. Having power over one’s body has been an important aspect of art. I have the power to choose the fate of my own body over the decisions of largely male medical specialists. Or the industries that have fed on the ideals of physical beauty and highlighted the lengths people have gone to achieve that ideal, from the employment of make-up or dieting to more extreme measures of cosmetic surgery and self-starvation.  

IB: Which photographer would you love to shoot with? 

IVZ: There are many. I would like to work with couture fashion, especially Alexander McQueen. And also with Tim Walker. That would be the ultimate treat.

IB: Do you have any sense of what the next five years have in store for you?

IVZ:  I will always continue to reinvent myself; I want my work to always have this meaningful layer because there are already so many images around today, especially with the iPhone and everyone taking selfies and pictures. I always try to challenge myself and do things I've never done before. 

Before I started to create my horse series, I researched what there already was on this subject in photography and then began questioning how I could make a new and refreshing image of these animals. And that's not only with horses, it's also with flowers. In short, I want to strive to continue challenging myself and renewing all the time.  

To learn more about Isabelle van Zeijl’s practice, visit her website or Instagram.

For further details about the Young Masters Art Prize, their current initiatives, and how to get involved in the future, visit their website or Instagram.

Additionally, you can visit Cynthia Corbett Gallery’s Instagram or website for further details on Isabelle’s practice, the Young Masters Art Prize, and other exciting upcoming exhibitions and events.

To get involved in the Young Masters Art Prize, you can visit their current and upcoming exhibitions:

Young Masters Invitational Exhibition: 20 October – 28 February 2024

Young Masters Jazz Benefit Concert 14 December 6-9pm

Purchase ticket on Eventbrite.
Venue: The Exhibitionist Hotel, 10 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT
Hours: 11am - 11pm daily
Nearest Tube: South Kensington

Ilaria Bevan

Editor in Chief, MADE IN BED