Rogier Houwen (b. 1992, Laren, NL) is a photographic artist based in Amsterdam. He graduated from the University of the Arts Utrecht with a Bachelor’s degree in Photography in 2015. Since then, his work has been exhibited internationally by galleries and art institutions.

Houwen’s practice centers on a deep sensory exploration of landscapes—not merely as visual subjects, but as multi-layered spaces with physical, conceptual, and spiritual dimensions. He approaches the concept of landscape as a living context, engaging with it through a dialogue in which the camera serves as an extension of his body. The resulting images undergo a phase of study and experimentation in his photo lab, where Houwen applies digital and analog printing techniques to hand-made papers, resulting in subtle, tactile, drawing-like photographic works.

Recent projects have emerged from international residencies in Italy and Mexico. In 2023, Houwen was invited by the Forci Art Foundation to produce site-specific work during a two-month residency at Tenuta di Forci, a regenerative farm in Tuscany. In 2024, he was invited for a solo exhibition at Terreno Baldío Arte in Mexico City. In preparation for this exhibition showing his latest series Cosmos, Houwen traveled across Mexico, photographing Maya temples, caves, cenotes, and botanical gardens. His current projects explore the intersection and merging of natural landscapes and man-made environments.

A text by art historian and curator Laura González-Flores:

At a time when cultural production seems to be absorbed in the interest of algorithms, Rogier Houwen’s photographic projects run in the opposite direction. Instead of the virtual display of codified forms, his photographs insist on the power and quality of natural matter. On the one hand, his images result from an inquisitive and reflexive dialogue with natural things, and on the other, they interrogate the sensitive quality of photographic form, matter, and surface of man-made environments.

Through an exquisite and experimental use of printing techniques, Houwen’s rich images reveal alternative ways of contemplating our immediate environment. Whether natural or cultural landscapes, his photographs invite us to explore the vast array of experiences of the world before us that can still manifest themselves as epiphanies.