Lucy Schreurs

For as long as I can remember, I have had a complex relationship with identity and belonging. I used to hide in books to understand how others shaped themselves within stereotypes, subcultures, and social norms. Especially regarding sexuality, gender, and intimacy, there remained a distance between how I saw myself and the social norm. Growing up within the norms and values ​​of a Catholic family from Limburg, anything non-normative was rejected rather than accepted. As a result, I developed a fascination for people and communities that exist outside dominant structures. This also stemmed from a need to get closer and rediscover parts of myself that were not given space.

The tension between rejection and connection forms the starting point of my practice. I investigate how norms surrounding gender, sexuality, and identity are passed on, internalized, and reproduced. Driven by these questions, I have been drawn to queer communities, performance culture, and alternative social spaces such as nightclubs, raves, and sex parties. Initially in a documentary capacity, and gradually also as a participant, organizer, and curator.

I view queer nightlife not as an escape, but as a place where intimacy, collective joy, and other ways of living together are experienced and practiced. Through photography, performance, and installations, I explore temporary, intimate forms of community in sex-positive environments such as Whole Festival (Berlin) and Club Raum (Amsterdam). For me, these spaces can change what you consider normal or acceptable outside of those spaces.

In this context, ecological analog photography constitutes not only a technique but also a substantive starting point. Through ephemeral image processes such as cyanotypes and anthotypes, I explore vulnerability, transformation, and reciprocity. I view the image as a living organism. Just like identity and community, it is constantly in a state of change; it responds to time, environment, and relationships.