In March 2026, FLAT // LAND is proud to present works by Dutch photographer Annelies Damen (b. 1968) in Milan and Rotterdam, showcasing LONGING FOR LAMU, a photographic series on presence and erasure, identity and vulnerability.
For over two decades, Annelies Damen has returned to the Lamu Archipelago off the coast of Kenya. Drawn to its rich coastal heritage, Damen found in the islands both a sustained source of artistic inspiration and a space for encounter. Through extended conversations with African and Swahili women, she came to understand the specificity of their faiths, skills and social systems, as well as the informal networks of mutual support that structure their daily life. Unparalleled and addictive, her world expanded in unexpected ways. Compelled by the women’s radiance, dignity and resilience, Damen began to photograph them, allowing their presence and stories to shape the work.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lamu has long been a crossroads of African, Arab, Persian and Indian cultures. Over centuries, people from different tribes and regions, settled here. Each bringing distinct roots, traditions and identities. From this convergence emerged a vibrant Swahili culture, developing from the twelfth century onwards and which is still thriving today.
Yet the knowledge passed down through generations—how to live in community, share resources, pass on traditions and sustain collective life—is fading, and with it, cultural identity itself. The disappearance of this long-functioning ecosystem, prompted Damen to portray the women in Lamu as figures through which questions of presence and erasure, identity and vulnerability, memory and change are negotiated. Faces and bodies are at times veiled by an incredibly seductive palette of colours and foliage, yet the gaze remains direct and luminous. This gaze asserts resilience within constraint, shaping the frame. A deliberate intervention that allows the work to resonate beyond its immediate setting, engaging broader cultural and natural realities.
Featuring portraits, still life’s and architectural compositions, her series LONGING FOR LAMU operates simultaneously as a poetic reflection and critical testimony. Fragility is turned into witness; vulnerability into intimacy. LONGING FOR LAMU unfolds both as a love letter and testimony—a formal simplification that mirrors the precariousness of the ecosystem and the cultural knowledge under threat. Her works bear witness to a place where cultural memory, environmental balance, and human identity remain inseparable—and increasingly fragile.
Biography
After earning her BBA at Nyenrode University and embarking on a promising career in the business world, Annelies Damen (1968) chose a different path following a transformative year-long journey through Africa, traveling from Morocco to South Africa. During this time, photography became her main focus.
Although she remains actively engaged as a member of the board of the family businessDamen Shipyards, Damen pursued her passion by studying at the Academy of Photography in Amsterdam, where she graduated in 2006. Today, she balances her professional responsibilities with her artistic practice.
Traveling extensively around the world — particularly throughout Africa — women have become the central theme of her photography. As Damen explains: “Especially African women fascinate me: magical, proud, independent, and sensual.”
Working from her studio in Amsterdam, she develops autonomous photographic projects with the world as her subject. Through her lens, Damen sensitively captures strong female imagery from a myriad of cultures. Her subjects appear deeply connected to their natural or architectural surroundings, creating a sublime interaction between figure and environment.
As an artist she demonstrates the symphony between the female form in natural or architectonic settings creating a painterly meeting of shadows, shapes and lines that are steeped in poetic beauty.
Damen’s art has been on display at numerous galleries and art collections both nationally and internationally.