Harmen Meinsma is a Dutch fine art photographer whose work centres on queer lives, individuality and non-conformity. Growing up in a small village in Friesland, where he lived with his grandmother, he discovered photography as a teenager. The medium became a way to claim space for himself and his friends, and to show a kind of beauty that rarely appears in the mainstream.
Meinsma is drawn to people who stretch or reject conventional norms. His portraits feature individuals whose expressions of gender, style and identity feel like a form of survival as much as self-expression. This focus on the unique, the flamboyant and the so-called misfit has become a defining part of his visual language. In his own words: “In my work, I direct the spotlight to misfits and the birds of paradise in this world and I turn them into icons.”
After completing his BA (Hons) in Fine Art Photography at the Willem de Kooning Academy in 2017, his work has been shown internationally, including at Photoville (New York, USA), Kunsthal Rotterdam (the Netherlands), the 2024–2025 Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize (National Portrait Gallery, London, UK) and the 2024 Head On Portrait Award (Bondi Pavilion Gallery, Sydney, Australia). His photographs have appeared in NRC Magazine, FD Persoonlijk, Vogue Italia and Volkskrant Magazine.
Currently based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Meinsma works at the intersection of staged and documentary portraiture, often in close, long-term collaborations such as his ongoing series My Dear Joyce. He uses filmic light, domestic spaces and shared authorship to celebrate and elevate the beauty of being unapologetically oneself.
New Old! The Art of Growing Older.
Museum van de Geest | Haarlem gives ageing a human and surprising face in its new exhibition New Old! The Art of Growing Older. Through striking art photographs of both well-known and lesser-known older people, the museum highlights the diversity, vitality, and resilience that come with growing older. The exhibition challenges persistent myths that portray older people as fragile and a burden, and invites visitors to look at age in a new way.
Lost and Found: Open Call
This exhibition includes works by artists from across the world who focus on queer joy. In this moment, as the US marks a decade since legalizing gay marriage, and when people in power insist on marginalizing, isolating and denouncing LGBTQ+ communities, LACP insists on elevating love and acceptance.
This exhibition is organized as part of Matthew Finley: Lost and Found.
The Hero In You!
Six powerful young individuals take the spotlight in a vibrant photo series exploring identity, creativity, and inner strength.
Created with young residents of the asylum seekers’ centre in Ter Apel, on view at Kunstpunt Groningen (3–5 July).
Part of Guardians of Grunn, in collaboration with Stichting De Vrolijkheid.
CREDITS
Photography: Harmen Meinsma
Hair & Make-up: Mahla Kamaliyeganeh
Styling: Faten Hejazi
Starring: Oia, Modar, Frida, Zahna, Abdullah and Aymen.
Thanks to: Mirthe van Wermes
The Billboard Creative
Dutch photographer Harmen Meinsma is currently in Los Angeles, where his portrait of Cybersissy and BayBJane is featured in The Billboard Creative exhibition. The work will be on view from May 5-30, 2025 on a large billboard near MacArthur Park.
Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, 2024
De Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize keert terug voor zijn 17e editie en toont het werk van getalenteerde jonge fotografen, begaafde amateurs en gevestigde professionals in de beste hedendaagse portretfotografie.
De wedstrijd viert een diverse reeks beelden en onthult de boeiende verhalen achter de creatie van de werken, van formele opdrachtportretten tot meer spontane en intieme momenten met vrienden en familie.
Head On Portrait Award, 2024
De Head On Photo Awards is een gerenommeerde internationale fotografiewedstrijd, opgericht in 2004 in Australië. De competitie staat open voor fotografen wereldwijd en beoordeelt inzendingen anoniem. Er zijn drie hoofdcategorieën: Portret, Landschap en Exposure. Finalisten krijgen de kans om hun werk te exposeren tijdens het Head On Photo Festival in Sydney.
Pose!, 2021
Tijdens de 2020-lockdown legde Harmen de nieuwe generatie clubkids vast in krachtige portretten. Hij focuste op hun unieke schoonheid en de essentie van de underground scène, zonder afleiding van hun omgeving. De tentoonstelling biedt een kijkje in deze energieke wereld, met optredens van Cybersissy, Pxssypapi en Sukubratz. Deze serie is ontstaan tijdens Harmen’s residentie bij WORM, een magische plek voor de jeugd van nu.
Youthquake, 2021
Kunsthal Rotterdam trapt het nieuwe jaar af met een multimediale tentoonstelling over het tijdloos verlangen naar eeuwige jeugd. Aan de hand van mode, fotografie en video laat de tentoonstelling ‘Youthquake’ zien hoe youth sells. In de beeldcultuur wordt jong zijn uitbundig gevierd. In het straatbeeld, reclames en (social) media wordt het verlangen om eeuwig jong te blijven breed uitgedragen.
Photoville 2019
Dutch talent will be featured at Photoville NYC from September 12 -22, 2019. Ilvy Njiokiktjien, Harmen Meinsma Photography, and Gijs van den Berg will each have their own solo exhibition.