Jade
 
Giclée print on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl paper.
Size 30x23 cm without white border
 
“Jade is one of the images that later became part of my collage Sakura.for my Family Affairs series. On its own, it represents a quiet moment of reflection, yet within the larger composition it becomes part of a story about family, resilience, and the emotions that connect us across generations.
 
In my work, I explore how feelings can be passed on, often without words. Jade invites the viewer to consider which emotions belong to our own lives and which may have been carried through the generations before us. It is an exploration on the invisible threads that shape who we are, reminding us that vulnerability and strength often exist side by side.”
 
In her work, Nienke Elenbaas (1966) is drawn to the space where feeling takes shape before it can be explained. Although created from a strong concept, her images emerge intuitively, guided by an underlying sense rather than a fixed outcome
 
Underlying this process is a strong desire to create images that feel pleasant to look at. Not simply as an aesthetic choice, but as something more deeply rooted. From an early age, she became aware of how much atmosphere can shape a space. Not as something visible, but as something you sense, present yet unspoken. Tension, sadness and fear could exist without language. What remained was an instinctive movement: how to make an atmosphere lighter, without trying to change it. That movement continues to inform her work.
 
Aesthetics play a central role in how these images take form. Her background in fashion photography subtly informs her sensitivity to colour, styling and composition, which develop intuitively during the process of making the image. Bright, present tones and carefully assembled visual elements act as an entry point, creating a sense of openness that allows the viewer to enter the image without hesitation.
 
In her images, Elenbaas works with layers, both visual and emotional, much like memory itself. What appears at first may feel accessible, sometimes even light, but beneath the surface something else persists: a presence that resists being fully named, yet continues to be felt. These layers can take different forms, at times tangible and almost hidden beneath the surface, and at others carried through colour, texture and association.
 
Rather than fixing a single narrative, she leaves space for interpretation. She is less interested in defining meaning than in allowing something to be experienced on a more intuitive level.
 
The process itself is shaped through exchange. Elenbaas works closely with the people she photographs, sharing the starting point of an image and allowing their perspective to become part of it. Through this dialogue, the work expands beyond a single viewpoint, carrying multiple emotional layers.
 
Her images invite the viewer to slow down and remain present. Within their apparent lightness, they hold a quiet resilience; a way of approaching complex emotions without becoming overwhelming, and of recognising that even within difficult experiences, other ways of seeing and feeling can exist alongside them.
 
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