INTERVIEW WITH:
CHRISTINE MOOIJER
Christine Mooijer: Photography as a Bridge Between Hope and Reality
For Christine Mooijer, photography isn’t just a medium—it’s a means of reconciling the dreams and realities we navigate daily. In this interview with Cluster, Mooijer reflects on her early influences in pop culture and a fascination with the American Dream, capturing both the allure and disillusionment of idealised visions of life.
Her work doesn’t shy away from complex emotions; instead, it invites viewers to explore vulnerability, resilience, and connection. Here, Mooijer discusses her process, her views on media representation, and the personal stories that shape her work, creating images that resonate on a deeply personal level..
HIGH SCHOOL
THE ROAD
Hi Christine! Your work often explores the tension between idealised dreams and reality. Can you walk us through your creative process? How do you decide which aspects of this theme to highlight in each piece?
My creative process starts with a story to tell. These stories are sometimes based on feelings I’ve had and moments I experienced, mostly rooted in reality. Other times I start from stories I grew up with or I’m inspired by, showing worlds I wish were true. I don’t think it’s a black & white thing where there’s more dream or more reality, more-so it’s a mix between the two. I think it’s more [explorative] to find a silver lining behind the dark clouds. Something to connect with, to find a piece of [themselves], but also something to look forward to, something to aspire to become.
Could you tell us more about your early influences regarding the American Dream and how they shaped your view on life and art? How has your perspective on this evolved over time?
Growing up in the Netherlands, the American Dream was something that was always pretty far away, but I’ve always felt like a magnetic pull towards it. My formative years were spent watching Hollywood movies showing stories where everything eventually ended ‘happily ever after’. I saw stories of people with better lives than I had at the time. I needed to escape my real life and I found that in stories too good to be true. At the same time, it felt very lonely to see all these examples of lives better than mine. Over time, I realised this dream is far from the perfection it’s often perceived to have, and I realised I needed to start telling stories that people could relate to. It pushed me [not to] just show the escape, but also the struggles that make us need one.
I’ve been working hard on achieving my own American Dream, trying to move to Los Angeles in the near future, but I also realise the American Dream is a system set up to make people believe they can achieve more, as long as they work hard for it. The system is set up so we keep going against the odds, making it seem like our own fault if we don’t achieve the impossible. I think it’s good to become a little more realistic about achieving our dreams, but I never want to lose sight of that sliver of hope either. I think the cynical Dutch mindset and the American optimism work together in my art, as a bridge between dream and reality.
STARGAZING
PAUSE
DARLING
Your work deals with complex emotions like loneliness and unfulfilled aspirations. How do you translate these intangible feelings into visual elements in your photography?
As a girl, I was obsessed with all kinds of storytelling. I touched upon my interest in Hollywood movies earlier, but it also came with listening to all kinds of music, reading books, or even hearing bedtime stories as a small child. My parents opened a lot of worlds to me, from Greek mythology and David Bowie, to Catholicism and Disney princess movies. I learned we tell stories to make sense of the world around us. Through all of these different stories, I learned a lot about using metaphors, symbolism, tropes and cognitive narratology and incorporating those elements to get my stories to come across the way I intended them to. Even though these feelings are intangible, they’re felt by everyone at one point or another. It’s something universally relatable, so we learn to read between the lines. What we see and what we feel can become very close to each other, by emphasising the emotions through the choices I make in lights, shadows, colours and more. I hope that through the choices I’ve made, people connect with the images on a personal level, seeing their own emotions reflected back at them.
Sometimes it takes more than just one image to get the emotions across, and different context clues can add to the stories as well. Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet has been adapted many times in many different forms, for example movies like West Side Story or Titanic. They essentially tell the same story within the same emotional range, but different choices can be made to enhance what is being told.
THE OTHER SIDE
POOL
How do you feel about the current representation of women in the media, and what do you hope your work will contribute to this conversation?
The mainstream pop culture works predominantly for the privileged white man, and we’re seeing a war waged on women, LGBTQ+ and other marginalised groups in our daily media intake. There has been some progress in the representation of women, but if current events prove us anything, it’s that we still have a very long way to go to be considered equal to men. I hope to show women as the complex and fully developed individuals they are, instead of as objects for men. A lot of women need to see something that they can relate to. Instead of pitting against each other, we need to find ways to support each other and lift each other up. Movies like Barbie or Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show there’s a big need for spaces where we feel safe amongst each other, and I hope to contribute to a world where it gets more common to find that space.
Your portraits often highlight moments of quiet reflection. How do you go about creating a space where your subjects feel comfortable enough to explore these intimate emotions?
Before I go into taking pictures of someone, I want to connect on a personal level with the person I am taking pictures of. Creating an open space with them is so necessary to get the entire thing to work. I see them as the actresses of the movie I’m directing, even if the story itself is a still image. I’ve also learned very valuable lessons for my future by having conversations with (essentially) strangers, so there’s room for both parties to explore the emotions important to them. They need to feel at ease finding out about my vision, but I also need to be open to theirs. The spaces where I’ve felt the connection the strongest, have also turned out to be my favourite pieces.
PICKET FENCE
“I feel fulfilled when girls or women see a part of themselves in my work and feel something lasting from it.”
DOWNTOWN
You aim to offer a more authentic portrayal of women’s realities. In what ways do you see mainstream pop culture failing to do so, and how does your work respond to these shortcomings?
I don’t necessarily think pop culture is failing to show authentic women, they’re just written from a predominantly male perspective. They’re mostly written from a male point of view, and usually the women are made in service for the furthering of the male hero’s plot. They’re always pushed into a certain narrative and are expected to be perfect for their male gaze, and I try to work outside of these archetypes and offer more alternative narratives. The stories written by women and for women, are far too little in numbers and too far apart, and if they are made. My taking up the space and working from my perspective with a female gaze, is my way of responding to the expectations put on our shoulders.
As an artist, how do you measure success? Is it in the personal growth of your subjects, the impact on your audience, or something else entirely?
A while ago, when I was showing my work in a group exhibition in the Netherlands, a girl came up to me. She had just lost a football game and felt incredibly bad about it, but said that my work made her feel understood. There was so much pressure on her to perform well, and hearing my stories she had felt some of the pressure got lighter. I feel fulfilled when girls or women see a part of themselves in my work and feel something lasting from it. Success for me is also about my own personal growth, healing my inner child. Ultimately, I want to become a better artist, or even a better person, gaining new insights in life and learning and connecting to others. The moment I stop making those connections is the moment I’ve stopped growing.
SILVER LINING
LOST
NO NEW ME
Thank you for reading,
Alexandra, Ema & the Cluster Team.