According to legend, a creature half-human and half-water life was stranded in the Netherlands in the 15th century – this creature embodied both the sea and humans. With her work Waterland, Dutch artist Sophie Allerding adopts the position of this mermaid. What would she think of climate change and rising sea levels – a problem which has become very serious in recent years in the Netherlands. 

What is beauty and how do we define it? For visual artist Alina Gross, the perception and idea of beauty is completely distorted and unrealistic. With her series ‘Les fleurs’, she combines body painting with flowers and close-ups of naked female bodies to create a sensual expression of what beauty means to her.

Photographer Flávio Edreira uses photography as therapy to deal with his ADHD and to better understand his internal conflicts. Tormenta (English: Storm) represents the lack of control he feels, the nightmares he is submerged in and his paralysing fear of everything tumbling into utter chaos.

Photographer Gregg Segal combines abstract images of textures found in the streets with old family photos to create multi-layered images trying to understand his complex family history. What initially started as a way to understand his brother’s mental health issues quickly developed into something much deeper and more meaningful.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) was officially criminalised in Egypt back in 2008 – nonetheless it is still considered one of the most important religious rituals to this day. With Permanent Wound, photographer Somaya Abdelrahman documents her own personal journey and the violence and pain thousands of women experience every year.

The area where dreams are generated in our brain is called the ‘hot zone’. When photographer Claudia Fuggetti suffered from insomnia, she became obsessed with the idea of recreating what she saw in her dreams, trying to capture images which are usually lost after you wake up. Her images are transporting us back into her lucid dreams, mixing vision, dreams and reality.

For photographer Sebastian Ferruzo, the Western understanding of spirituality is a fascinating topic. In American society, where capitalism has generated enormous wealth disparities and social inequalities, his work connects with the people at the edge of that society. What keeps people going to look for meaning in life even when it’s dark and bleak around them?

Shane Lim’s ongoing series The future is hyperreal is a response to hyperreality. He creates tension by blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, to arrive somewhere neither real nor unreal through the juxtaposition of nature as subject and its distortion through digital process.

We invited singer-songwriter Fe to share with us her process and passion for photography. Her work gives voice to her inner self, reflecting mystery and wonder throughout her practice. Fe creates lumen and cyanotype prints using sunlight and full moonlight, developed directly onto photographic paper.

Photographer Laura San Segundo combines images she took over the last few years with old photographs she found in antique shop to create The circular enclosure – a series of images suspended in time, with no apparent connection or belonging. She achieves to create an uneasiness which is hard to ignore and enables a dialogue on how the editing process and our unconsciousness can disrupt and change how we perceive an image.

In his upcoming photo book Hackney Scars, photographer Eddie Plex sends a love letter to the accidental bizarre moments he has found during the last three years between Hackney (London) and Northern Italy. The series follows some strict rules: all shot on iPhone, no staging and no retouching, only documenting.

In this visual essay, photographer Duna Vallès Mestre explores her personal universe of intimacy and identity, trying to uncover what lies deep inside of her. Her images depict elements from the micro and macro universe, combining fundamentally polarising worlds.

A phase of insomnia made photographer Dzesika Devic explore her surroundings during the night and she was surprised what she discovered. The busy places she knew from daytime appeared completely transformed. Fascinated by the uneasiness and awkward feelings, she started to document this ‘new world’ she uncovered.

Back in 1993, photographer Kip Harris decided to go with his wife on a trip across the Midwest of America in search of ‘the Heart of the Country’. His images allow us a glimpse of what America looked like 30 years ago, during the first year of the Clinton administration, and his accompanying essay tells us what it felt like.

In her book The two headed horse. Reenactment in ten acts, photographer Mariela Sancari explores the transformation of a fixed image into a performed image. The 104-page book guides the reader through the play, complete with visual descriptions of the set, notes for the actors and the script.