Artist: René Clement

Print on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta 325 g/m2, size 40x50cm. With signed certificate.

René Clement (1962)  is a photojournalist and artist based in Cairo, Egypt. A native of The Netherlands, Clement was co-founder of Borax Foundation for Photography in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and a contributor to the Hollandse Hoogte Agency in Amsterdam and Getty Images in New York. His work has been published throughout the world, and his portrait photography and documentaries have been awarded numerous prizes including Time Magazine Picture of the Year and the Dutch Silver Camera competition.

René Clement lived and worked in New York City from 1998 to 2018 and now calls Cairo home. He contributes his editorial photography to the Beeldunie Agency and his artwork is represented by gallery Sandvoort in Amsterdam and gallery Tintera in Egypt.

In 2011 Clement published Promising Land – Land vol Beloften, a photographic contemplation on Dutch Americans in Iowa. Promising Land was awarded the second runner-up prize in the fine arts category of Blurb.com’s annual international Photography Book Now competition.

Clement spent the twelve months prior to September 11th 2011 creating a pictorial study in newspaper format, entitled Scar Tissue. This project focused on New York City, his then adopted hometown, as it continued to recover from the 9/11 tragedy, ten years afterwards. Ten thousand copies of Scar Tissue were distributed free of charge on September 11th at Ground Zero, around the time of the memorial service. The newspaper was created in collaboration with the Dutch newspaper Trouw and was simultaneously published in Dutch in the Netherlands, as a September 10th supplement. It was also published by the Belgian newspaper De Tijd as an addition on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Scar Tissue received the 2011 European Newspaper Award.

In 2013 Clement published ‘Oh Sandy – New York after hurricane Sandy’. In this evocative visual essay, Clement documents the turbulent days after Hurricane Sandy in New York. This series earned a nomination for the prestigious Dutch Silver Camera competition, in the category Foreign News category.

Awards

Several prizes Dutch Silver Camera section Foreign News Pictures 1999, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2020. European Newspaper Award, Scar Tissue, 2011. Second runner up ‘Photography Book Now’ Competition, Promising Land, Blurb.com, 2011. Pictures of the Year, Time Magazine, 2003.

Fellowships & Grants

Grant from the Matchingfonds for project in Egypt, 2021
Dordt College, Iowa, guest teacher ‘photography career advisory’ and lectures, ongoing
Dutch Consulate in New York, guest teacher photography class, 2013
The Netherlands – America Foundation, grant for ‘Promising Land’ exhibition, 2007
Missouri Photo Workshop, student grant, 1999

Exhibitions

Tintera gallery, Cairo, Egypt, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024; AUC Gallery, Cairo, Egypt, 2024; Photo Festival Naarden, The Netherlands, 2019; American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, USA, 2017; Photo Festival Naarden, The Netherlands, 2017; The Briar Cliff Review, Sioux City Art Center, USA 2017; Zuiderzee Museum, Enkhuizen, The Netherlands, 2015; Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 2015; Arbeitnehmerkammer, Bremen, Germany, 2014; Slideluck Potshow, Amsterdam, 2012; Slideluck Potshow, New York Photo Festival, 2011; Nijmeegse Kunst Nacht, The Netherlands, 2010; Five Dutch Days, New York, 2008; Dordt College Campus Center Art Gallery, Iowa, 2007, 2011.