UNSPOKEN: A Five-Year Anniversary Dialogue at Atelier K84

A Shared Milestone in Contemporary Photography

The exhibition UNSPOKEN is a collaborative showcase born from the shared history of Arjan Spannenburg and Nathalie Dekker. Marking five years since their graduation from the Fotoacademie in 2018 together, the duo reunited to curate an exhibition that addresses the silences within modern society. Hosted at Atelier K84 on Amsterdam’s historic Keizersgracht, the exhibition provides a platform for topics often left unaddressed: mental health, sexuality, body image, and social injustice. By choosing to present these themes in a duo-format, the artists highlight how different photographic perspectives can converge to make difficult conversations more accessible to a broad audience.

Collaborative Presence and Dialogue

Arjan Spannenburg worked in close partnership with Dekker to develop the concept for UNSPOKEN, ensuring the exhibition functioned as a seamless conversation between their respective works. Throughout the entire duration of the exhibition, both artists committed to being present at the gallery every opening day. This direct engagement allowed visitors to move beyond the visual surface and enter a dialogue with the creators. For Spannenburg, this presence was essential to the exhibition’s mission: lowering the threshold for discussing "unspoken" subjects. By sharing the stories, thought processes, and technical methods behind his images, Spannenburg fostered a rare level of transparency and connection between the artist, the subject, and the viewer.