Red Boots

name designer: Romina Koopman

Bio of the designer:

Romina Koopman (1996) is intrigued by how the digital image changes our perception of reality. She positions herself in the grey area where the tangible and virtual worlds converge, questioning the role of the screen as a border. Her work reflects on how the photographic medium, in the digital era, creates a new, ever-evolving truth. She approaches photography as a shape-shifting medium, rejecting the image as a flat surface, a view expressed in the materialization of her work: digital and analogue. This translates into a wide range of printing techniques, often presented together in multimedia installations that challenge our habits in today's image-consuming society.

Koopman studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, after which she won the Steenbergen Stipendium and Best of Graduates 2022 (Galerie Ron Mandos). She completed her master's at the Sandberg Instituut (2022-2024). Her work has been exhibited at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, UNFAIR 26, Melkweg Expo, Kunsthal KAdE and World Press Photo, among others. She also took part in a residency organised by the collective Tokyo Photography Research.

title: Red Boots

short description: 

A forgotten image of a pair of red boots, a photo found in my phone archive. The work features photographs of objects that hold no personal meaning or memory, serving as a reflection on the constant stream of imagery we consume daily and store on our phones. These "unimportant", forgotten images are transformed through a slow process of manual screen printing.

By physically printing the image onto the screen, the device, which normally occupies such a dominant role in our everyday lives, loses its original function. Instead of constantly entertaining us with an endless feed, it is now frozen in time, displaying only a single image for the rest of its lifespan.

materials used: 6-layer silkscreen print on polarized sheets from an LCD screen, presented in a curved frame.

measurements: 34 x 80 cm

selling price: €2,250.00

Image credits for all visuals if applicable:

Instagram handle: @rominakoopman