VIRGINIA JOYCE-FLEMING ZAK VAN BILJON

 Modernising nature

Born in 1981 in South Africa, Zak van Biljon studied at the National College of Photography in Pretoria, before emigrating to Europe in 2004. Over the past two decades, van Biljon has made a name for himself in the art world working in the field of commercial photography while simultaneously consolidating his skills as a fine art photographer. Van Biljon’s work explores notions of reality and perception, nature and urbanity, through his signature style of infrared photography.
The infrared photography technique—originally developed for military surveillance and crop surveys—consists of a process, where infrared-sensitive photographic materials react to the near-infrared light that is naturally reflected by organic materials. As a result of this, van Biljon’s naturescapes photographs visually manifest themselves in vibrant red and pink colors.
The works included in the exhibition at Galerie 10 give insight into Zak van Biljon’s pivotal—yet continually evolving—imagery ranging from majestic infrared pictures of Swiss-local landscapes, through to detail-oriented nature studies and to photographic analyses of organic structures such as flower fields or branch wood.