BIOGRAPHY MO VERLAAN
After graduating from the Rietveld Academy, Mo Verlaan (1963) started out in experimental theatre, creating sets on location as well as performing. Her love for travelling made her accept an offer to provide meals for the performance group The Female Factory as their touring schedule included Moscow. Afterwards Mo and two of her sisters founded the catering company ‘De Drie Gezusters’ (The Three Sisters) catering to national and international film and television crews, providing three-course meals on location from a converted truck. This took her all over the Netherlands, to France, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, and even to the remote Spitsbergen Islands.
Only 9 years ago, Mo’s love for photography made her enter the Photo Academy in Amsterdam. She graduated in 2016 with a joint exhibition Unframed in the creative haven Roest and designed a steel triptych presenting four black and white prints especially for the location. At the same time she launched her first photography book called Resonance in which she explores the impermanence of light, the brief and fleeting beauty of landscapes, architecture and people. Her work is poetic, abstract and expressive. Mo Verlaan lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, but will journey everywhere.
EDUCATION
- 2022 – 2023
PHOTOBOOK YEAR-LONG COURSE by The Nearest Truth / Brad Feuerhelm, Online - 2022
Workshop Solar Plate (Toyobo Print) at AGA Lab, Amsterdam|NL - 2022
Workshop Casseinedruk (Zerochrome) at Polychrome by Kees Brandenburg, Middelburg|NL - 2022
Masterclass Between The Hammer And The Anvil by Dirk Braeckman & Brad Feuerhelm, Athens|Greece - 2021
Workshop Cyanotype at Polychrome by Kees Brandenburg, Middelburg|NL - 2018 – 2020
Postgraduate Masterclass by Machiel Botman, Analog Photography, Haarlem|NL - 2017 – 2018
Atelier Smedsby, One Year Photography Masterclass, Paris|France - 2016
Masterclass The Great Beauty by Anders Petersen, Rome|Italy - 2011 – 2016
Fotoacademie, Autonomous & Fine Art, Amsterdam|NL - 1985 – 1990
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Theatre Design & Audiovisuel, Amsterdam|NL
EXHIBITIONS
- 2023
Solo Exhibition of the Winners of the 19th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona|Spain - 2023
Buy my Darlings, The Love Edition, Exhibition and Sale at NDSM Fuse, Amsterdam|NL - 2022
The Portrait, 12 August-10 September in the Gallery & Bookstore Contemporary Photography, Amsterdam|NL - 2021
Buy my Darlings, The Naked Edition Exhibition and Sale at NDSM Fuse, Amsterdam|NL
Exhibition at Atelier Mo Verlaan, Open Ateliers Westelijke Eilanden, Amsterdam|NL
Group Exhibition Ne Me Quitte Pas, 033fotostad, Rietveld Paviljoen, Amersfoort |NL - 2020
Group Exhibition Art Month Ameland |NL
Group Exhibition Award Winners of the 14th JM Cameron Award, FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona|Spain
Group Exhibition Red, Blank Wall Gallery, Athens|Greece
Group Exhibition Feminine/Masculine at PH21 Gallery, Budapest|Hungary
Group Exhibition photographers collective Self Publishers United at 033fotostad, Rietveld Paviljoen, Amersfoort |NL - 2019
Group Exhibition 100% Female, Grand St. Laurens Church, Alkmaar|NL
Group Exhibition Award Winners of the 13th JM Cameron Award, FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona|Spain
Exhibition of the winners at Mt. Rokko International Photo Festival, Kobe|Japan
Group Exhibition Portrait Without Faces, ph21 Gallery, Budapest|Hungary
Group Exhibition Landscape, Blank Wall Gallery, Athens|Greece
Group Exhibition Monochrome, ph21 Gallery, Budapest|Hungary
Group Exhibition Lacda Top 40, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, LA|USA
Group Exhibition ‘…iets met ruimte’ (‘Some Space’) in Pictura, Groningen|NL - 2018
Group Exhibition Winter in Blank Wall Gallery, Athens|Greece
Group Exhibition EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY at BERLINBLUE art gallery, Berlin|DE
Group Exhibition …Iets met ruimte Kunsthal 45, Fotoroute Den Helder|NL
Group Exhibition The Family of No Man, Arles|France
Photobook Exhibition at Athens Photo Festival, Athens|Greece - 2017
Group Exhibition In the Zone in the 1650 Gallery, LA|USA
Group Exhibition HIS at Snorfabriek, Utrecht|NL
Solo Exhibition Solo in Dos, Restaurant DuendeDos, Amsterdam|NL
Group Exhibition HIS at Grand Central Station Utrecht|NL
Duo Exhibition Mo Verlaan & Jur Oster at The Saza Gallery, Amsterdam|NL
Photobook Exhibition, 7th Annual Photobookshow at The Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester MA|USA - 2016
Group Exhibition ‘Editions’ in The Tripp Gallery, London|UK
Photobook Exhibition, 7th Annual Photobookshow at The Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson NY|USA
Photobook Exhibition at the Felifa Fola Feria de Libros de Autor Buenos Aires|Argentina
Group exhibition at the 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam|NL
Group Exhibition Winners of 9th JM Cameron Award at 4th Berlin Foto Biennale, EMOP Berlin|DE
Group Exhibition The Indian Photography Festival, State Art Gallery Madhapur, Hyderabad|India
International Photobook Exhibition, The Royal Photographic Society, Espacio Gallery|East London Photomonth, London|UK
Photobook Exhibition, Festival International de Fotografia SCAN, Tarragona|Spain
Group Exhibition unframed at Fotogram Gallery, Amsterdam|NL
Group Exhibition unframed at Roest, Amsterdam|NL
AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
- 2022
OVERALL WINNER SINGLE IMAGE PROFESSIONAL at 19th Julia M Cameron Award, Spain
Category Winner Single Image Alt. Processes and Nude at 19th Julia M Cameron Award, Spain
10x Honorable Mentions at 19th Julia M Cameron Award, Spain
1x Honorable Mentions at ND Awards 2022, US
Resident at Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency
3x Honorable Mentions at IPA, USA - 2021
2nd Place Nude Single Image and 7x Honorable Mentions at 16h Julia M Cameron Award, Spain - 2019
3x Honorable Mentions at ND Awards 2019, US
6x Honorable Mentions at 14th Julia M Cameron Award, Spain
1st Prize Winner Photo Award at Mt. Rokko International Photo Award, Kobe Japan - 2018
4x Honorable Mentions at 13th Julia M Cameron Award, Spain
2x Honorable Mentions at International Photography Awards, US
Honorable Mention and 3x Finalist at 11th Julia M Cameron Award
2x Nominee Fine Art|Abstract at 4th Fine Art Photography Awards, USA
Honorable Mention IPA One-Shot Harmony, USA - 2017
2x Honorable Mentions at IPA, USA
6x Honorable Mentions at The Monovision Photography Awards , GB - 2016
2x Honorable Mentions at Tokyo International Foto Awards, Japan
Winner Single Image Category Architecture, The 9th Julia Margaret Cameron Award
Finalist at The Hariban Award, Kyoto|Japan
PUBLICATIONS
- 2022
Publication of Book of Light Vol I, II, III at Swatch Virtual Museum
Publication of Book of Light, Self-Portrait Nr6 with Glass Rod in The Hand Magazine #38 - 2021
Publication and showcase of The Memory of Time in Thinking About Photography #Time
Publication Self-Portrait in Photography Magazine F-Stop, Issue #106 April/May 2021
Publication and Interview of Meander in Alumni Fotoacademie Masterclasses - 2019
Publication of Undercurrent Diptych in The 2019 Photographs in Conversation Lenscratch - 2018
Publication of series Undercurrent in Edge of Humanity Magazine, USA
Resonance featured at Unveil’d Photobook #01, London|UK - 2016
Publication in NEW2017, Published by GUP 100 New Dutch Photography Talents, A’dam|NL
Publication Photobook Resonance, De Drie Gezusters Publishers, Amsterdam|NL