Ellen Kooi lives and works in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Ellen Kooi challenges us to see the world through his photographs, as a dramatic narrative, seeking the line between fantasy and reality. At first glance, people living in these landscapes (mostly Dutch) seem to be at the mercy of their environment, but if you look at these photos in more detail, we discover a more complex relationship.
Using his experience in theater and dance photography, Kooi created scenes where the viewer feels familiar, but they are magical. Some of his works seem to focus on the qualities of fairy tale, but always containing a dark side to the story. Children who at first seem to be playing can actually be fleeing, terrified even. A beautiful woman is staring at a beautiful landscape, if not the industry that looms menacingly behind him. Like the lone figures on the works of Caspar David Friedrich, the world's inhabitants Ellen Kooi are killed by fear and anxiety. The contrast between a personal world of fantasy and elements that surround it, are both real and symbolic wealth of Ellen's own work.
