Paulien Dubelaar deals with existential questions, such as: the meaning of life, how we can live a meaningful existence, and who we are. Where answers are incomplete or insufficient, she tries to complete the gaps with her images: in greatness and insignificance, in vulnerability and transience, in stillness and motion, in darkness and in light. She feels connected to the ideas of existentialist philosophers and uses them as inspiration in her photographic oeuvre.

In today’s world, happiness seems to be the ultimate goal. We pursue it, and feel compelled to keep advertising happiness and success in the public media. But is this pursuit not a mistake? Doesn’t it, ironically, lead to an unhappy life?

Her images show a different reality: dark, alienating, and lonely. We seek our way through chaos and darkness, and try to add structure and find support in what surrounds us. Bright spots provide direction, but they do not lift the isolation of the searching human. We are surrounded by the greatness of nature and we stand in the dimmed light of ever-continuing  time. Vulnerability and decay are certainties, yet, everyone has to learn how to come to terms with the inevitable fate.