Ten women. Ten stories. All different, and yet with things in common. The most important one: visible scars from self-harm.
WHERE AND WHEN
Deeper than the Skin is on show from 2 to 6 November 2026 at The Beach in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, in collaboration with W in de Wijk •
The Beach, Notweg 38, Amsterdam
Can’t make it during the week? On 7 and 8 November the series hangs in my studio in Zaandam • Bergumermeer 53, Zaandam
THE EXHIBITION AND MORE!
There’s more to do that week than just the exhibition.
Below you’ll find the UP-TO-DATE PROGRAMME:
- Monday 2 Nov. 14:00-17:00: Q&A with people with lived experience, in collaboration with W in de Wijk.
- Tuesday 3 Nov. 13:30-14:30: Dance workshop by Mandy, one of the ten women I portrayed and a dance teacher in training. You’ll learn to move in your own way and feel what lives inside your body. No dance experience needed.
- Wednesday 4 Nov. 9:30-11:30: Speaker and lived-experience expert Nicole ter Morsche (Zebra Voorlichting) offers professionals an in-depth session on how to approach and support people who self-harm.
- Friday 6 Nov. 12:00-16:00: Live drawing: Tessa Melanie draws visitors on the spot, so you can feel seen and beautiful for a moment. A unique opportunity, come and join us!
Care professionals will also be present at set times throughout the week. And I’ll be there all week myself: to show you around the series, answer your questions, or simply lend a listening ear.
How the series came about
During my conceptual studies at the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam I met Mandy. She let me photograph her freely, with her self-harm scars visible in the frame. Her openness moved me and set me thinking.
Because the taboo and the misunderstanding around this subject are still considerable. That came through in the conversations I had about it with people working in mental health care. And so my first autonomous series came into being: Deeper than the Skin.
What drives me: making vulnerability visible
After twenty years as a designer I decided to change course. I wanted to keep using my creativity, but less on the surface of things. In photography I found a medium through which I can contribute something to society. My photography is marked by accessibility, light, and a visual layering in which vulnerability and beauty come together.
In this project I portray people with self-harm scars. Not to draw attention to the scars, but to make their strength, their beauty and their femininity visible. Their scars tell stories of pain and struggle, but also of surviving and recovering. Of their resilience.
Images that look soft and aesthetic at first glance, but that are confronting and honest up close. With them I want to show that self-harm scars are part of someone’s daily life and don’t have to stay hidden. Because shockingly, the reactions these women face day to day are still severe.
With this work I want to create awareness, encourage openness and offer a platform to those who need one. My aim is to reach a wide audience and to contribute to a world where traces of mental vulnerability no longer lead to shame, but may be acknowledged and seen.
Nadine: “Most people, if not everyone, carry scars on their soul. Mine just happen to show on my body too.”
Taking the exhibition on the road
I’m grateful that these photographs and stories (written by Femke van Woudenberg) will have a place in November where they’re allowed to be seen.
And I very much hope it won’t stop there, because this series was made to travel. To galleries and care institutions, but just as much to schools, local councils or companies. Wherever this conversation is welcome, the series belongs.
Do you have a space or an audience in mind? I’d be glad to think it through with you. Feel free to get in touch!
Annelotte: “Why am I in these photos despite that shame? Because I hope it will get the conversation about self-harm going. I felt so alone in my struggle for so long.”
With thanks to
This project was made possible in part by the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, PleinC x VSBfonds and the municipality of Zaanstad.
An award like that is more than a contribution. It’s recognition for work you make on your own and at your own risk to begin with, and that trust is what gives you the nerve to carry on!
W in de Wijk, thank you so much for your expertise and for your help during the exhibition. And in particular for being there on Monday for the Q&A, so visitors can bring their questions to you, and for making sure support workers are present throughout the week. And The Beach, thank you for making the space available.
Thanks as well to Studio Dordt in Dordrecht, where I was able to photograph the series with Aline, and to Martine Spijksma, who made her studio available for the shoot with Marieke. Q Studio, thank you for letting me photograph Joselien and Nadine in the greenhouse.
And thanks to Masa Print in Almere for the careful printing, which lets the vulnerability of the portraits come through on paper as well.
It’s quite an organisational puzzle at times, but thanks to all of you everything falls into place.
And above all: thank you to the ten women who stood in front of my camera. You showed your scars and let your stories be heard. That takes courage, and without that openness this series would not exist. I’m enormously grateful to you, dear Aline, Marjolijn, Debby, Loïs, Nadine, Joselien, Annelotte, Jennifer, Marieke and Mandy.
Do you recognize yourself in this? You don’t have to carry it alone. MIND offers information and routes to support (in Dutch). During the exhibition, TeamED and W in de Wijk are there to talk to as well.
