SANNE DE WILDE

Sanne De Wilde is a visual artist working with photography, film, installation and painting. She creates long-term projects on mythology, genetics, identity and perception while experimenting with collaborative approaches in storytelling.

She is the recipient of multiple awards including The Firecracker Award (2016) and the World Press Photo Award (2019), and has published two monographs: Land of the Ibeji (with Bénédicte Kurzen), published by Hatje Cantz & Hannibal, and The Island of the Colorblind, published by Kehrer Verlag & Hannibal.

  • All
  • The Island of the Color Blind
  • The Dwarf Empire
  • Snow White
  • Land of Ibeji

Sanne De Wilde uses to photography to explore the role genetics play in people’s lives and is interested in documenting how this shapes and affects communities through her creative practice.

De Wilde graduated with a Master in the Fine Arts at KASK in Ghent (BE) with great honours in 2012. Her photo series, The Dwarf Empire received the Photo Academy Award in 2012, as well as the International Photography Award Emergentes DST in 2013. Her series ‘Snow White’ won the 16ème Prix National Photographie Ouverte and NuWork Award for Photographic Excellence. De Wilde was also awarded the Nikon Press Award in 2014 and 2016 for most promising young photographer.

The British Journal of Photography selected De Wilde as one of ‘the best emerging talents from around the world’ in 2014 and received the Firecracker Grant 2016, PHmuseum Women’s Grant and de Zilveren Camera award for The Island of the Colorblind . De Wilde most recently won a World Press Photo for her collaborative project with NOOR Photographer Benedicte Kurzen titled Land of Ibeji in 2019.

Sanne De Wilde’s work has been published internationally (Guardian, New Yorker, Le Monde, CNN, Vogue) and exhibited (Unseen Amsterdam, Voies OFF, Tribeca Film Festival, Circulations, Lagos Photo, Lodz Fotofestiwal, IDFA, STAM and EYE).

EXHIBITIONS

2026
Family Stories group exhibition, (The Trilogy of Togetherness, Three Chapters on Intimacy and the Violence of Systems), Hangar Art Gallery, Brussels.
2022
Land of Ibeji, with Bénédicte Kurzen, Fisheye Gallery, Paris, FR
Ripples, a group exhibition presented by the Noor Agency, Atelier Néerlandais, Paris, FR
Land of Ibeji, with Bénédicte Kurzen, Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Rencontres D’Arles, FR
Ce Mond qui Nous Regarde, 15 ans de l’agence NOOR, a group exhibit Bibl. National, Paris FR
Land of Ibeji, with Bénédicte Kurzen, FOCAL, Nyon, CH
Land of Ibeji, with Bénédicte Kurzen, Incadaqués Photo Festival, Cadaques, Catalonia, SP

2021
Pulse / NOOR, a group exhibition with Noor, Musee de la photographie, Charleroi, BE
Iconic Portraits, Antwerp Photo Festival, Antwerp, BE

2020
Land of Ibeji, with Bénédcte Kurzen, Cultural Institute of Islam in Paris, FR
LUMIX – Digital – fro Young Photography, Festival, Hannover, DE

2019
Land Of Ibeji with Bénédicte Kurzen, Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos NI
Land of Ibeji, With Bénédicte Kurzen, TJ Boulting Gallery, London UK
Land of Ibeji, with Bénédicte Kurzen – World Press Touring Exhibition (multiple locations).
Island of the Colorblind, Soiz Gallery, Passau, DE
Lianzhou Foto Festival, Lianzhou, China

2018
Island of the Colorblind, Unseen Amsterdam, East Wing (with Arko Datto), Amsterdam, NL
Island of the Colorblind, Cortona on the Move Photography Festival, IT Island of the Colorblind, Belfast Exposed, N. Ireland (UK)
Island of the Colorblind, Photoszne Festival, Köln, DE
Island of the Colorblind, Athens Fotofestival, GR

2017
Island of the Colorblind, Voies Off, Recontres d’Arles, FR
‘Snow White’, Verkadefabriek, Den Bosch, NL
The Island of the Colorblind, 44 Gallery, Bruggefoto, Brugge, BE.
The Island of the Colourblind, Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, NL
The Island of the Colorblind, EYE Film Museum, Amsterdam, NL Kunst & Herstel, Gevangenis Beveren, BE.
The Island of the Colorblind, Vintage Photofestival, Bydgoszcz,PL
The Island of the Colorblind, ‘Mixing/Memory and Desire’, Bredaphoto Festival, Breda, NL
The Island of the Colorblind, Exhibition 11th FCBarcelona Photo Awards, Barcelona, SP
The Island of the Colorblind, ‘Lucid Realities, Phi Center, Montreal, Canada.

2016
The Island of the Colorblind, DOCLAB: Elastic Reality, IDFA, de Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, NL The Island of the Colorblind, LagosPhoto Festival, Lagos, NG
The Dwarf Empire, Just Another Photo Festival / Edition 2, Varanasi, IN The Island of the Colorblind, Fotoistanbul Festival 2016, TR
The Golden Hour, Of Light, Galerie Francis Garette, Brussels, BE The Dwarf Empire’, PIP Festival, Pingyao, CH
The Dwarf Empire, Athens Photofestival, Benaki Museum, Athens GR
Ladies only,Velvet Dwarfs and Crocodiles, group exhibitions, De Henegouwe Gallery, Heks, BE
The Same Opposites, duo expo with An-Sofie Kesteleyn, Broelmuseum, Kortrik, BE De Winkel om de Hoek, solo exhibition MAS Antwerp BE
The Dwarf Empire, solo exhibition, CC Hasselt, Belgium
The Pink Lady of Hollywood, solo exhibition, Biennale Biennale Brasschaat, Brasschaat, BE
Citybook Gent, solo exhibition, Maison Biermans-Lapotre, Paris FR

2015
Snow White & Samoa Kekea’+ Citybooks Gent Stories of Identity, STAM, Ghent, BE.
Evidence, group exhibition, Format International Festival of Photography, Derby, UK

2014
The Dwarf Empire, Outono Fotogra?fico, Museo Municipal, Ourense, SP
The Dwarf Empire, Encontros da Imagem, Monastery of Sao Martinho de Tibaes, Braga, PT.
Emerging Talents 2014 Exhibition’. Galeria Valid Foto, Barcelona, SP
Unexposed. TWENS, Kapel Romaanse Poort, Leuven, BE..
Velvet, Dwarfs and Crocodiles, Ladies only #1, Group exhibition, Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne, DE ‘Chine Today’ China stories curated by Tina Schelhorn. Atelier Cinq, Arles, FR ‘Best Regards’. Quai des Arts Gallery, Ghent, BE.
Selected Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy Award 2014. Exhibition: Kassel, DE.MIA Milano, IT. IED (Madrid, SP.), Fotoleggendo (Rome, IT.), PhotoIreland (Dublin, IE), The PhotoBook Museum (Cologne, DE), Le Bal (Paris, FR), Fotogalleriet (Oslo, NO)
‘The Dwarf Empire’ Solo exhibition. Le Petit Espace Gallery, Paris, FR ‘Ladies Only’.FOMA, Tbilisi, GE.
Photobookshow. 72Gallery, Tokyo, JP. One Eyed Jacks Gallery, Brighton, UK. ‘Snow White’ Solo Exhibition. Evans Contemporary Gallery, Peterborough, CA. The Dwarf Empire’ Solo exhibition. De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, NL

2012
‘The Dwarf Empire’ BredaPhoto International Photofestival, Breda, NL. ‘The Dwarf Empire’ Graduation 2012, KASK, Ghent, BE

2010
‘Green Room’. International Photofestival, Knokke, BE.