Sander van der Bij

Sander van der Bij (1991) is a photographer and visual artist based in Groningen. He trained at the Dutch School of Photography in Apeldoorn. Since 2015, Sander has worked independently, presenting his work in more than 30 exhibitions, primarily through projects in the northern Netherlands.

His practice focuses on social themes, including our relationship with waste and the visible and invisible traces of consumption left in our surroundings. His work moves between reality and fiction, using unexpected materials and a distinctive perspective.

From my studio in Groningen, I construct 3D models and miniatures, which I then photograph and edit to create the final two-dimensional images. I use clichéd elements from traditional landscape photography, creating the illusion of real-life environments. The result is a series of icy mountain landscapes, shadowy caves and dizzying celestial bodies which, despite their minimalist and dreamlike appearance, cannot dispel the nagging sense that they are somehow real.

Through framing, the suggestion of scale and the use of everyday materials, my images move between fiction and reality. In doing so, I question the objectivity expected of the photographic medium. Like any other form of visual representation, photography is always a product of subjectivity. Is an image still ‘real’ when it is constructed from polystyrene and pixels?