NO HORIZON

MAARTEN VROMANS

// For his photo series ‘No Horizon’, Dutch photographer Maarten Vromans travelled by train through Switzerland in 2019. Movement is at the heart of his work and methods, so when he found himself on that journey, he decided to let the capture of movement take precedence over careful planning.

Maarten was born in Rucphen, a small town in the southern Netherlands. At the start of his career, his photos were published in New Dutch Photography Talent (now known as GUP New), an annual publication showcasing the work of one hundred upcoming Dutch photographers. Since then, his work has been featured in both online and print magazines such as Broad, BuzzFeed and Aesthetica.

In recent years, Maarten’s work has been shown at fairs and exhibitions in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague, Budapest, and London, to name a few. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, he compiled his ‘Lucky Shots’ series into his first photo book in 2018. Vromans is represented by Zerp Galerie in Rotterdam, NL.

“One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and turn on. It’s on all the time.”

Annie Leibovitz

What draws you to the arts?

“For as long as I can remember, I have been creating beautiful things. That is the core of who I am. Over the years, that creativity has found more and more definitive form. I develop stories and elaborate them in language, form and image. And I enjoy looking at the work of colleagues who do the same.”

What do you like best about the experimental photo art project No Horizons that you have shared with us?

“When working on the No Horizon series, I had to adjust quickly to the Swiss landscape I was passing by. Although I was using the same methods and camera as I did when making my Lucky Shots and Go West series, the landscape didn’t offer me the wide views I encountered when travelling by train through The Netherlands and the United States. Seeing only Swiss mountains from close by, a new imagery had to emerge on the spot.“

Whenever Maarten travels from one place to another – be it on foot, by boat or by train – he methodically records the altering terrain that passes him by. This could be the eroded buildings in an anonymous urban setting, but also the untouched landscape of a remote region, or the infinite distance on unspoiled open water. Maarten likes to move through transition areas: the no-man’s-land between residential, commercial and working environments; between built-up, cultivated and untouched areas. There, in places that apparently no longer belong to anyone, he makes photos that are tranquil, abstract and picturesque, and in which the subject always remains recognisable.

Maarten travelled by train through Switzerland in 2019. For six days he journeyed over snow-covered mountain peaks and through green valleys. He saw beautiful landscapes passing by, in which the horizon was rarely visible. In Switzerland, he explored whether it is possible to take interesting images if, as a photographer, you leave everything to chance. No scouting for that perfect location. No thinking about perfect framing. No fretting about choosing the right lens or having the right camera settings. No waiting for that one magical moment that would give the shot that something extra. Rather: leaving everything to chance instead.

‘No Horizon’ is a sequel to his photo series ‘Lucky Shots’ (2017) and ‘Go West’ (2018).

We think that Maarten managed to reach his goal. Here you have it, a Swiss landscape as you may not have seen it before, seen in images that cannot be repeated, left up to chance, albeit taken with an experienced hand.

Click on the photos to see a larger image with its title. Some images may be cropped for layout.