Verena Blok (1990, The Netherlands) has a deep interest in personal stories and narrative accounts. Intrigued by the way cultural and political factors influence a person's life, she uses her lens-based practice to shed light on the inner life and everyday "reality" of her protagonists. Blok, who holds dual Dutch and Polish nationality, is acutely aware of her position between East and West, and her work is often concerned with the gendered representation of the self. Encounters with her subjects take place in intimate settings, which function as the core and fuel of her work. By approaching them and immersing herself in their lives for extended periods of time, she uses the context in which they live as a study and backdrop for the narratives of which both she and her characters are a part.

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