Here * Now

Vanessa van Houten photographed over fifty Indonesians whom she hardly knew before —women, men, warias (cross-dressers, transsexuals and transgenders) aged between 20 and 80 years old using natural light with her Leica SL camera.
Van Houten photographed passionate chefs and baristas, young entrepreneurs, accomplished athletes, mothers, fathers, loved social influencers, dancers, beautiful yogis, makeup artists, sex workers, famous musicians, popular artists and talented fashion designers.
During the photoshoot only the person being photographed and Vanessa would be in the room.

She wuld ask each person to think about their own ‹inner beauty› for 50 minutes without talking and invited them to behave in the area provided as if they were at home.
Each had complete freedom: to move, to sit, to stand. What they did with their hands, feet and hair was their own choice.
For almost an hour, individuals silently focused their thoughts about inner beauty and their own core values. They went into their past to think about who and what was, or is, an influence on their lives. Straight afterwards everyone wrote one page about their ‹inner beauty.