Michelle Blancke is a lens-based visual artist from the Netherlands, working between Amsterdam and Monferrato, Italy. She studied at the Foto Academie in Amsterdam, where she completed the intensive three-year Conceptual Image program, developing a practice rooted in perception, transformation, and the interplay between the visible and the imagined.

Blancke’s work explores the idea that reality is not a singular, fixed state, but a layered construct shaped by perception. Drawing on scientific theories, philosophical inquiry, and elements of fantasy, she examines how the mind interprets sensory information to create meaning. This fascination with the seen and unseen drives her artistic inquiry, as she investigates the nature of consciousness and the mysteries embedded in the natural world.

In her series Secret Garden, Blancke constructs immersive environments that seem to unfold across parallel realms. Breathing landscapes, glowing structures, and enigmatic textures invite viewers into a space where transformation is constant and boundaries blur. Her images serve as portals into a world where the mystical and material coexist — meditations on the soul, nature, and the hidden forces that animate both.

Blancke has exhibited widely across Europe. She has held a solo exhibition in Amsterdam and participated in prominent group shows including Venice’s Musa Art Pavilion during the Biennale, Rotterdam Photo, and international exhibitions in Milan, Berlin, and Arles. Her work has earned critical recognition, including being shortlisted for the BBA Photography Prize 2024 and named a finalist for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2025.

Education

2023 - 2024

Coaching by Matt Chaim de Groot

2020 - 2023

Conceptual Image, Fotoacademie Amsterdam

2016 - 2017

Realistic Fine Art Oil Painting, Art Partout Academy Deventer

2002 - 2007

BA & MA English Language & Culture, Utrecht University

Exhibitions (Selected)

2025

Aesthetica Art Prize, Finalist exhibition, York Art Gallery, York, UK

Roots, Group exhibition, Luisa Catucci Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Art in public space, hospital Spaarne Gasthuis, The Netherlands

Affordable Art Fair, with BBA Gallery, Berlin, Germany

BBA Photography Prize 2025, Finalist exhibition, BBA Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Sense of the Hidden, Group exhibition, EM Gallery, Amsterdam

2024

BBA Photography Prize 2024, Finalist exhibition, BBA Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Photographers Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Secret Garden, Solo exhibition WM Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Project exhibition Rotterdam Photo during Rotterdam Artweek, The Netherlands

Expo Plein van Siena Reflection & Spirituality Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2023

ProfiFoto@Rencontres d’Arles La Grande Vitrine, Group exhibition

Graduation exhibition Emergo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Awards

2025

Winner 3rd Prize BBA Photography Prize 2025, Berlin, Germany

Finalist Aesthetica Art Prize, York, UK

Publications (Selected)

2025

Aesthetica Magazine Talent Spotlight

2024

Publication Der Greif issue #17 — November

Top 50 FRESH Annual Photography Klompching Gallery NY — July

12 page article Aesthetica Magazine print issue 118 — April

5 page debut article PF Fotografie Magazine — April

LensCulture Editor’s Pick Art Photography Award

2023

GUP Fresh Eyes International Conceptual Talent

Interview HP / De Tijd Expo, 8 recent art graduates — July