Céline van Balen

photographer

Dutch^[1] b. 18 August 1965, Amsterdam, Netherlands^[1] d. 1 April 2023^[1,2] active 1994–2004

Céline van Balen (1965–2023) was a Dutch photographer known for her intimate and penetrating portraits of people on the margins of society. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, specializing in photography. Van Balen began her career in the early 1990s, focusing on subjects such as squatters and homeless individuals. One of her most notable projects involved documenting the residents of the Nieuwmarkt district in Amsterdam, capturing its diversity and dynamics. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in major collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. In 2004, she ceased her professional photography career to move away from the art world. Her oeuvre was bequeathed to the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam.^[1,3,4,5]

• marginalized people
• portraiture
• homelessness
• urban life