Publisher's DescriptionThis book is published by Schirmer/Mosel on the occasion of the exhibition Hellen van Meene New Work at Huis Marseille Amsterdam and Museum Folkwang Essen.

'The photographs that make up her new work were taken over a period of four years, particularly on travels to England, Latvia, Russia and Japan. Along the way, Van Meene's way of working seems to gain spontaneity. More importantly, though, she manages, with flawless intuition, to find her models in many more places than in the vicinity of her home in North Holland. Not only does that yield a greater variety of portrait subjects; the new work also shows that Van Meene can now photograph as easily outdoors as indoors. The result is surprisingly lively. One can only conclude that her work has acquired strength, partly because she has explored and expanded her subject in a natural way. Less staging is done, the props are gone, and the situations in which the work is carried out are more diverse than before. The new work therefore seems to be a beautiful and convincing sequel to the earlier success with which Van Meene's portraits of teenagers were received.'
-From the introduction by Els Barents (Director Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam)