Lilith Love

Lilith Love is the pseudonym of Henriëtte Johanna Ignatia Maria van Gasteren (Sevenum, September 9, 1964), a Dutch photographer and artist, known for her, sometimes controversial, self-portraits. Recurring themes in her work are: identity, femininity, female archetypes, gender bending, freedom and equality.

Lilith is the youngest in a family of four. Her father was a clog maker and mailman. Since her childhood she has been writing, drawing and cooking. She attended the Schoevers Academy in Nijmegen and worked as an executive secretary from 1983 till 2000.

In 2005 Love resumed writing. Her culinary erotic story Kalfsbraadstuk op tagliatelle met een zachte saus van witte port en kaas (Veal roast on tagliatelle with a smooth sauce of white port and cheese) was published in: Raadselige Roos 2005, a collection of stories that had entered the competition for prose and poetry of the Literary Cafe for the Venray-region. To illustrate the blogs that she posted online, she started to make self-portraits to go with the stories. At first she used a webcam, then she switched to a simple compact camera. In 2006 the self-portraits almost completely replaced the stories and from that moment on she tells her life story with photos, using a single-lens reflex camera, tripod and remote control.

2009: Let the fork do the talking

Love's work has caused controversy on several occasions. She has also been censored during an exhibition in the Euregio-Haus in Mönchengladbach, Germany and during an exhibition in the convention center (and former seminary) Rolduc in Kerkrade, The Netherlands. Her self-portrait Forgive me, Father, for... from the religious series I could’ve had religion made the front page of the Dutch newspaper Sp!ts because of it.

In 2012 she was one of the ten leading artists from Limburg who were exhibited at the Pulchri Studio in Den Haag, together with Ted Noten, Charles Eyck and Lei Molin. In the same year her work was also shown in the USA for the first time. During Photoville in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York City her work could be seen at two exhibitions: The Wonder of Woman and FotoFestival Naarden.

In 2012 she started her project A house is not a home, in which the houses of complete strangers are the setting for her self-portraits. That same year she also started the photo documentary Risja, a story by Lilith - This is bugging me, about Risja Steeghs a girl who lives in her village and who suffers from a severe form of Lyme disease. The 'Huis voor de Kunsten Limburg' in Roermond, The Netherlands, financially supported the travelling exhibition and the publication of a photo book with the same name. The proceeds from the book sales go to TeekOnMe, a foundation that supports the research of Lyme disease.

• 2009: Second place, Photography Masters Cup, category Nude with Banquet
• 2010: Nomination, Photography Masters Cup with Piqued
• 2010: Nomination, "Artist of the Year" Stichting Kunstweek
• 2011: Nomination, "De Gouden Grijns" with Side table
• 2011: Selected for Zomerexpo, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag with Side table
• 2011: Nomination, Photography Masters Cup, category Fine Art with Side table and Member of the Biking Nation
• 2012: Nomination, Photography Masters Cup, category Fine Art with Lumps
• 2014: Nomination, Photography Masters Cup, category Fashion with Bunny in the tub
• 2014: Nomination, Photography Masters Cup, category Nude with Take these broken wings
• 2014: Public choice Avro's photo contest 'The selfportrait' with Singer
• 2014: 2nd Juror's choice Avro's photo contest 'The selfportrait' with Mystifier
• 2014: Selected for the intercultural festival Eigenarten, Hamburg (BRD) with "Doing the laundry"
• 2014: Nominee for 9th Black & White spider awards, category Fine Art, with "Pluralism"
• 2014: Honorable mention 9th Black & White spider awards, category Nude, with "On the button"
• 2015: Monograph #2 Dodho Magazine, an entire edition of this Spanish online magazine showing 100 self-portraits by Lilith
• 2015: Honorable mention 8th Annual Photography Masterscup, category Nude with 'Queen bed'
• 2015: Nominee for 8th Annual Photography Masterscup, category Fine Art with 'The library'
• 2015: Nominee for 8th Annual Photography Masterscup, category Nude with 'Mystifier'
• 2015: Nominee for 8th Annual Photography Masterscup, category Nude with 'Woodcarver'

• 2012: 'Risja, a story by Lilith' - ISBN 978-90-819714-0-9
• 2013: 'A house is not a home' ISBN 978-90-819714-1-6
• 2015: 'Over hoeren&madonna's' (with Paul Sterk) ISBN 978-90-6216-963-4

• Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo, The Netherlands
• Museum for moderne art Ikob, Eupen, Belgium
• Limburgs Museum, Venlo, The Netherlands
• Museum Jacob van Horne, Weert, The Netherlands