Men drink wine and women water: Fine Art Photography by Vicky Martin and Patrick Van der Elst

In A Room of One’s Own (1929), Virginia Woolf reflects on her experiences at an imaginary school, Oxbridge. While dining, she notices that male scholars are served delicious food and their wine glasses are quickly refilled while women are served plain food and only water. Fairly enough, in Western societies, women are also served wine today. But roles and responsibilities are still unfairly shared.

In an online exhibition of 17 photographs by inside-out art gallery the photographers Vicky Martin and Patrick Van der Elst share their own views on femininity and the status of women today. Inspired by strong female characters, Vicky’s work revolves around stereotypes and gender expectations, while Patrick focuses his attention on beauty ideals, motherhood, consumerism and intimacy.

Patrick Van der Elst

Born in brussels in 1969, Patrick Van der Elst lives and works in Belgium. His personal encounters, his readings, his life and his work as a doctor are today an inexhaustible source of inspiration. As opposed to spontaneous and instantaneous photography, his approach is based more on intense reflection and long clinical settings to question our society, our way of living...

His photographic work does not follow any formalism, nor does he claim any filiation. for artistic expression, he leaves it to himself, following the idea of doing only what he likes and not confining himself.

What guides his work above all is the emotion that it could arouse and a certain idea of beauty, motherhood, filiation, the human being and his relationship to nature, consumerism and intimacy are recurring themes in his work.

As for technique, he defines himself as self-taught, more adept at empiricism and trial and error than at classical teaching, a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, since he has to set up sets, paint backgrounds, make sculptures, invent staging, place lighting or rework images. it seems essential to him to put no limits on the means or the method, to feel no constraint in order to create a dreamlike and original universe.

Vicky Martin

Vicky Martin is an international award winning fine art professional photographer from the UK. Her first introduction to photography was whilst studying art and design at college in the 90s, she fell completely in love and found it to be a natural fit creatively, realizing that this was what she wanted to do with her life she went on to dedicate her studying to photography. Notably she has had her work published and exhibited nationally and internationally, from Europe to the USA in solo and group shows and her work continues to garner many awards and nominations most recently to include Portrait Photographer of The Year 2020 at the
Minimalist Photography Awards.

Throughout her photography she explores her fascination with identity and the emotions that are evoked by scenarios which are based in both fantasy and reality. She finds inspiration in strong female characters whether from literature, film or everyday life. Vicky intertwines her created characters with staged realities, which seek to convey the tension and conflicts found within the self.

Throughout her work she likes to express recurring themes that she is drawn to, which include: conformity to the stereotypical, individual and societal expectations of femininity, vulnerability and self-doubt. Whilst all her works contribute to the narrative framework developed across her series, they also each depict an element of ambiguity that the viewer is invited to interpret in relation to themselves and their unique perception of the world.

About inside-out art gallery

Started in May 2021 with six artists: Vicky Martin, Iwajla Klinke, Patrick Van der Elst, Julia Buruleva, Derrick O. Boateng and Justin Dingwall. inside-out is a visual activist. We strongly believe images change our vision of the world. Behind the pop colours, striking messages are hiding out. inside-out is digital and nomadic, reaching out photography devotees worldwide. It is genuinely designed to operate mainly through online platforms and art fairs. In an increasingly dematerialised world, NFTs are our future and inside-out will soon launch NFT artists.
The Founder Enzo worked for more than 10 years as Consultant in the finance sector in Luxemburg, Brussels and Paris. The following 8 years he coordinated projects worldwide for a medical emergency NGO. Art collector and entrepreneur with a humanist approach, his long-time passion for contemporary art led him to launch his gallery in May 2021.

inside-out art gallery
501, avenue Molière. 1050 Brussels. Belgium

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