Sofie Knijff is a Dutch-Belgian photographer based in Amsterdam. She began her artistic parcours studying theatre, receiving her diploma to be a theatre performer in 1998 from the Toneelacademie in Maastricht, the Netherlands. It was only in 2003 that she entered the Fotoacademie Amsterdam to pursue studies in Photography. It is certain this unique background in theatre is reflected in the photographic universe Sofie Knijff invites us to explore; her work is steeped in aspects of the theatrical and owes much to the notions she learned as a performer herself – approaching spaces as scenery and people as characters. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and art fairs. Recently, her artistic projects have received grants from the Mondriaan Foundation and shortlisted for the Unseen Photo Fair Dummy Award (2012), Mack Book Award (2013) and Best Photobook Award Kassel (2015) Prix Elysee ( 2016)
A Dutch-Belgian photographer based in Amsterdam, Knijff’s fascination with the greater allusions of fairy tales has roots in her own nomadic past. Living between Curaçao, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and France, Knijff developed a strong fascination for different cultures and identities, early on. Originally performer in the Dutch theatre circuit, her desire to create scenes, rather than enact them, pushed her to transition her career and into photography in 2003, when she entered the Fotoacademie Amsterdam. It is undeniable that this unique background in theatre is reflected in the photographic universe. From actor to director, Knijff invites us to explore a world of her making; steeped in the theatrical. She approaches her subjects from behind the curtain, working with children to help them bring out their fantasy for the camera. In line with a long tradition of classical portrait photography her work stands out for its ability to seamlessly meld into one image the documented and the fabricated, the real and the imaginary. Although staged, she aspires to maintain the whimsical spontaneity of her models by inviting them to choose a disguise and ‘play’ their favorite character in her studio. By searching for greater meaning in the masks we choose to put on or in contrast exploring what happens when you take them off when no one is looking, Knijff acutely applies her mastery of dramaturgy to open a dialogue about the veracity of a contemporary portrait. Knijff approaches spaces as scenery and people as characters.