Yvonne Zijtregtop (The Netherlands, 1993) is a fine art photographer based in Schiedam and a graduate of the Fotoacademie Amsterdam, whose work explores imagination and mystery. She is currently working on a long-term project exploring how the everyday can transform into something unexpected, sparking the imagination, evoking associations and inviting wonder. In October 2026, her work will be featured in Spotlight Rotterdam Talent at Kunstuitleen Rotterdam.
"My childhood home was a colourful gathering of people and animals. I lived there with my parents, two sisters, a nephew who lived with us, dogs, cats and a parrot. I remember a lot of noise, commotion and constant movement. I could never find a way into conversations; everything moved too quickly for me. In this house, I made and photographed little still lifes using objects from my bedroom. Here, I could work at my own pace. Through photography, I created a place of my own, where, for a moment, everything became quiet.
As a child, I was already making up stories and could lose myself in my own world. That imagination still gives me the space to explore what is possible through photography, beyond familiar forms and routines. I can add something, leave something out or change something, and surprise myself with what emerges. A cheese slicer can suddenly evoke the feeling of the Wild West. I find it astonishing that something so ordinary can take me there.
I find that same space when looking at art. Once, an image brought me back to a self-invented choreography I had not thought about for years. That fascinates me: how something you see can touch a memory or give rise to an entirely new imagining.
I begin with something ordinary: an everyday object, a plant or something that catches my eye. I embark on an exploration without knowing what the outcome will be. I work in a dark room, in silence and at a slow pace. By moving the light and playing with focus, shadow and framing, I discover new forms and associations. Raking light makes textures almost tangible, while the object becomes increasingly difficult to recognize. It is precisely when I can no longer quite tell what I am looking at that I want to explore further. In this process, what I see and what I can imagine begin to change.
Photography gives me a place where I can create my own worlds and be who I am. I want to offer that same space to the viewer: a space to wander, to find something again or to discover something that was not there before. What an image evokes may be different for each of us."
Exhibitions
- Oktober/November 2026: Spotlight Rotterdam Talent - Kunstuitleen - Rotterdam
- April/Oktober 2026: Exhibition - Neuroscan - Dordrecht
- September 2025: Venice International Art Fair - ItsLiquid Group - Venice
- July to December 2025: Exhibition - Neuroscan - Dordrecht
- December 2023: MMNT - Fotoacademie - Amsterdam
Education
2026
My Artist DNA - Kiekie Academy (current)
2021 - 2023
BA Photography, “Conceptueel Beeld” - Fotoacademie Amsterdam
Projects
Spectrum (2023 - present)
An ongoing photographic exploration of light, colour, and imagination, unfolding across three interconnected series:
- F-A (2023): A photographic series in which organic objects drawn from the natural world become starting points for new forms of imagery and imaginative possibilities.
- P-R (2024–2025): A photographic series centred on a single object, exploring how it can give rise to imagined environments. Each photograph becomes a fragment of these emerging worlds, revealing their distinct elements and visual languages.
- M-C (2026): A photographic series centred on a single object, in which the imagined worlds begin to reveal the presence of creatures and shifting forms of life. The research expands towards the emergence of beings that transform and evolve these visual realms.