The multiple layers in Kim Boske’s (1978, Netherlands) photographic images seem to be holding, one layer upon the other, merging and intertwining, simultaneously different moments in time, revealing a hallucinating phenomenon that is impossible to see or witness with the naked eye.

By going beyond the photographic media, which captures the “moment”, Boske collects fragments of reality that are then layered into intricate and mesmerizing compositions which tribute the incredible complexity of the natural element. This multitude of layers can be interpreted as a play with ecological ideas of diversity and symbiosis, embracing the character of the environment as a non-hierarchical, continuously changing complexity.

Ensō

The all-encompassing nature of Boske’s work can best be illustrated in her new series Ensō that she completed in 2024, titled after the ancient Zen symbol. At first glance, the ensō symbol appears to be nothing more than a miss-shaped circle but its symbolism refers to the beginning and end of all things, the circle of life and the connectedness of existence. It can symbolize emptiness or fullness, presence or absence. All things might be contained within, or, conversely, excluded by its boundaries. It can symbolize infinity, the “no-thing”, the perfect meditative state.

The ensō is a universal symbol of wholeness and completion; “form is void and void is form.” When viewing ensō, one can see that that form and void are interdependent and, in fact, define each other. This is a Zen symbol of the absolute, the true nature of existence, the duality within life and the imperfection of all things. It is a symbol that combines the visible and the hidden, the simple and the profound, the empty and the full.

For this series, Boske worked only with washi paper that she hand-produced herself, in combination with her own recycled indigo. Working with natural materials reflects both literally and figuratively the importance of biological diversity through the presence of the many soil micro-organisms in her work.

Biography 

Kim Boske (The Netherlands, 1978) studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, from which she received her BA in 2005. In 2011 she was a finalist at the Hyères Photography Festival in France. She has received several grants from the Mondriaan Fund, the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) and multiple times an artist-in-residence in Kamiyama, Japan.Her work has been exhibited extensively in museums such as Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Museum Moscow House of Photography, Russia; Shanghai Himalayas Museum, China; Nizhny Novgrorod State Art Museum, Nizhny Novgrorod, Russia; Galerie LUMC, Leiden; Museum Hilversum, the Netherlands; Hyères fashion and photography festival at the Villa Noailles; the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam; Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing and the Singapore International Photography Festival. In 2021 she was invited to the group exhibition ‘La Photographie à l’Epau’ in Le Mans. In the same year she participated in ‘Garden of Delight’, a group exhibition commissioned by the Netherlands Embassy in Budapest and curated by Claudia Küssel. Her work was selected the same year by Jenny Smets for a show exploring a dialogue between ceramics and photography at Usine Kugler, Geneva, Switzerland. In 2022 a solo presentation (Mimesis) was held in the Botanical Gardens in Rouen in the Pavillon du Jardin des Plantes and her solo show Insight Outsight was shown at the Kamiyama Theater in Japan. In 2023 she was invited to showcase her new recollections from Japan at De Utrecht, in Leeuwarden. Accompanying the exhibition is a new catalogue ‘Aizome’ that includes her latests works and films and an introduction written by art critic and writer Lucette ter Borg.