02 June 2015 // Florine van Rees //Rotterdam

//ZAHRA REIJS

Zahra Reijs is a dutch fashion and documentary photographer, based in Rotterdam. With her outtakes from the real things in and about people and their surroundings, she shows how her raw pictures are full of fragility.  Zahra is obsessed with PARADISE and the definition of that word and the place that goes with it. She finds her inspiration in picturebooks, around her but most of all in and from the United States. And that is something we can recall by looking at the interior of her beautiful studio in Kralingen, Rotterdam.

Glass objects are being put together with vintage design furniture. White walls are well balanced with Zahra her "treasures" and souvenirs from paradise. You can find her good taste in art and photography when you browse through her beautiful collection of books of for instance Helmut Newton, Anton Corbijn and Magnum photos. The big dollar bill above her fireplace is a souvenir from a carnavall store in the centre of Amsterdam, the tiny cacti are a gift from a fashion designer she did a photo shoot with. We are drinking coffee from cups she bought in Las Vegas and looking at a picture of Angelina Jolie kissing her former boyfriend Billy Bob Thorton topless, also a souvenir from a day we wandered around in Amsterdam. 

Walking around in her flowered dress, Zahra can't wait till summer. Bare feet in the sand, hopefully the sand of California, a place she dreams about going back.  As you can see, her house is filled with tulips, showing that spring is not far from now! 

You can find Zahra Reijs her work on the following website: www.zahrareijs.com

Thank you very much for having a peek in your own little paradise Zahra!