Danielle Kwaaitaal

°1964 in Bussum, Lives and works in Amsterdam (NL)

About the artist

Kwaaitaal  graduated from the Rietveld Academy in 1991, with the groundbreaking project Bodyscapes, establishing her as a pioneer in digitally manipulated photography. By the early '90s, her work gained significant recognition, with the Stedelijk Museum acquiring a piece from the Bodyscapes project. In 1992, she held her first solo exhibition at Bloom Gallery in Amsterdam and became a prominent VJ in metropolitan clubs like Roxy and Escape in Amsterdam and Pacha in Ibiza.

Kwaaitaal’s international acclaim grew with solo and group exhibitions, including Whispering Waters (2009) at the Groninger Museum (NL) which explored tactile skin, gravity defiance, and her connection to painting. In 2012, her Hidden Series at Museum Fundatie (NL) featured portraits of 12-year-olds, capturing the complexities of adolescence.

In 2015, she presented the series Après Nous Le Déluge at the Naarden Photo Festival, marking a shift away from digital manipulation to create painterly floral still lifes. Since then, Kwaaitaal has focused her work entirely on the theme of Water, culminating in the Florilegium Series (2018). This year-long exploration of submerged floral still lifes was later published in the book Florilegium (2021).

Her 2024 Fluorescent and Mirage series introduced surreal underwater still lifes with visible waterlines and reflections, blurring the line between reality and abstraction.

Kwaaitaal’s works are held in numerous prestigious art collections worldwide, including those of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Kwaaitaal undertakes commissioned projects that span a wide spectrum, from intimate portrait photography to large-scale installations, including notable works displayed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.