Sarah van Rij. Atlas des Échos
MEP–Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Studio, Paris
From December 11, 2025 until January 25, 2026
At the Studio at the MEP, Atlas des Échos brings together a body of work by Amsterdam-based artist Sarah van Rij, offering a reflective take on the modern city. Born in the Netherlands in 1990 and self-taught, van Rij has, since beginning her photographic practice in 2018, developed a body of work marked by its sensitivity to atmosphere and detail. Atlas des Échos presents a selection of series produced during van Rij’s wanderings through major world cities and remains on view until the end of January 2026. Urban landscapes, self-portraits, and collages form a portrait of the contemporary metropolis as something fractured and elusive. Figures hover at the edge of the frame or appear half-obscured by reflections, caught mid-gesture or mid-thought, and passers-by exactly that–fleeting presences.
“My work connects to the emotional and atmospheric impact of the place. When I walk through a city, I’m drawn both to how spaces look and to how they feel–how architecture, light or weather can shift the tone of a moment.”
Van Rij’s visual language draws on cinema as well as street photography, playing with light and shadow to create moments of tension and release, while framing suggests narratives that remain deliberately unresolved. The exhibition also features collages composed exclusively from van Rij’s own photographs. These works extend her practice beyond the act of shooting, recycling familiar elements into new visual structures, and through repetition and reassembly, the city is reimagined as a space of memory and intuition. At its core, Atlas des Échos is an enquiry into the act of looking.
What draws our attention as we move through public space, and what goes unnoticed?
Van Rij lingers on the minor gestures and passing alignments that give the city its emotional texture, opening a space for projection, reverie, and speculation.
The exhibition sits naturally within the context of the MEP, which since its opening in ‘96 has established itself as France’s leading institution dedicated to photography in all its forms. Renowned for an ambitious exhibition programme that brings together internationally recognised and emerging photographers, the MEP reflects the breadth of contemporary lens-based practice.
For further information Mep-fr.org.
