Collected Item: “MIDWEST”
Your Name
Anne van Zantwijk
Your Pronouns
she/her
Instagram handle, if any
@annevanzantwijk
Work Title
MIDWEST
Work Year (We are not accepting images older than 5 years)
2023
[Image Rights] Do you confirm that you hold the rights to this image?
Yes
[Eligibility] The Curve Photo Contest proudly centers and uplifts people who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer women and nonbinary people. Please share how you self-identify, using language that feels most accurate to you. Feel free to include all intersections of your identity. (Examples: lesbian, trans person of color, Latinx queer woman, radical faery, butch, etc.)
Lesbian / queer
[Artist Statement] Tell us more about your photo by sharing a brief artist statement OR answering this prompt: "This is what being ______ means to me..." (Max. 100 words)
In this collage (part of a series called MIDWEST) we see Belgian writer and activist Fleur Pierets alone in her motel room, as she retraces the fictional road trip from her novel ‘Heerlijk Monster’ - itself inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s ‘Carol’. Traveling across the American Midwest, Pierets steps into the world she once imagined, blurring the line between fiction and reality. Accompanied by Dutch photographer Anne van Zantwijk, this journey becomes a photographic exploration of queer visibility, authorship, and lineage. A meditation on what it means to claim space, tell one’s story, and write oneself into history.
[Visual Description] Describe your photo so we can provide alt-text. Example: "Two women holding hands and smiling as they walk in a pride parade, surrounded by rainbow flags."
We see Belgian author Fleur Pierets, spending a night alone at an American motel room during her trip through the Midwest. The image is part of a collage: her portrait is framed by parts of images of the Motel itself.
[Agreement] In the event that you win the 2026 Curve Photo Contest, do you consent to having your photograph printed for the sole purpose of displaying at The Curve Foundation's one-day event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA) during Lesbian Visibility Week? The Curve Foundation will cover printing costs, but will not cover costs for mailing the print after the event ends.
Yes
[Agreement] Do you consent to The Curve Foundation storing, sharing, and using this image and its description as we deem appropriate, including disseminating on our social media, website, and Curve Archive and Curve Quarterly?
Yes
[Agreement] By checking 'I understand' below, I acknowledge that this contest upholds values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I confirm that my submission does not contain anti-LGBTQ+ or other discriminatory, hateful, or exclusionary content.
I understand