bending the frame

10/09/2026

Such a beautiful review and thoughts by Romi Bhatti on last years exhibition at Vasl Artists' Association which Wendy Marijnissen from Bending The Frame curated (and participated in) together with Malika Abbas published on the wonderful platform The Karachi Collective. Do take a moment to read about our four ways of intimately resisting and share your thoughts.

I walked into Intimate Resistance at The VASL Gallery on the 25th of November 2025 with a kind of cautious curiosity. Photography exhibitions in Pakistan are rare to begin with, and when they do happen, they often fall into familiar territory, the beautiful Pakistan, the tragic Pakistan, the aesthet...

04/01/2026

Beautiful review on our most recent exhibition in Karachi, Pakistan, co-curated by our Wendy Marijnissen

Four photographers turn the camera inwards to chart memory, labour and loss as forms of resistance

21/11/2025

Vasl Artists’ Association, Bending The Frame vzw and Pakistan Documentary Photography Initiative invites you to the upcoming group exhibition “Intimate Resistance ” curated by Malika Abbas and Wendy Marijnissen, featuring works of Mir Arif Mahmood, Hassaan Gondal, Malika Abbas and Wendy Marijnissen.

The show will open on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm at the Vasl Gallery in Karachi.
The exhibit will continue till Saturday, December 20, 2025 from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.

We hope to see many of you there. Welcome!

This exhibition was not possible without the generous support of the Belgium Embassy in Pakistan, The Flemish Government, The Pakistan Belgium Luxembourg Business Forum, Bending The Frame vzw and the Pakistan Documentary Photography Initiative.
The support of Vasl Artists' Association and their sponsors is invaluable and truly appreciated.

24/03/2024

On the final day to see the exhibit ‘Ways of seeing’ we present the work of our founder and the curator of this exhibit, photographer Wendy Marijnissen
Wendy is known for her documentary work about the problems women face in Pakistan regarding motherhood and childbirth. A country she calls her second home for the past 15 years.

In Pakistan she found the freedom to explore the traumatic loss of her own parents and the unfulfilled wish to become a mother herself and transform these intimate experiences into a personal visual narrative.

Within the exhibition she combines work from here series ‘As tears fall’ with some of her archive as well as her book ‘Always the guest’, making new photographic connections within her archive so potentially new visual associations can arise.

Wendy will be at the artspace this afternoon on the final day of the exhibit. Feel welcome to come say hi and learn more about her work and that of the other 6 amazing photographers.

12 to 6pm at Arttelex, Oude Beurs 39 in Antwerpen.

14/03/2024

Without our sponsors and supporters this exhibition and the participatory week with all the photographers present would not have been possible.

Thank you Österreichisches Kulturforum Brüssel and the Honorary Consul of Austria in Antwerpen H.E. Edwin Moehlig for your support to the two Austrian photographers participating in ‘Ways of Seeing’. and Maryam Mohammadi

The beautiful work of Julia Gaisbacher and Maryam Mohammadi is still on view at ArtTelex for two more weeks.
From Thursday to Sunday from 12 to 6 pm until the 24th of March. Do come in and have a look.

29/02/2024

Thank you Focus magazine 🙏

De tentoonstelling Ways of seeing brengt werk samen van acht verschillende vrouwelijke fotografen. Te zien in Antwerpen.

27/02/2024

Wendy Marijnissen is a documentary photographer from Antwerpen.
Intuition and personal interests have always played an important role in her work and lead Wendy to her subjects in an organic way.

She has been working for many years on the problems women face regarding childbirth and motherhood. In Pakistan she found the freedom to explore the traumatic loss of her own parents and her unfulfilled wish to become a mother herself and transform these personal stories into an intimate visual narrative.

Using children's drawings as a starting point, she explores her own archive of loss and tries to make new photographic connections within her archive, so new visual associations might arise.

In 2018 she published her book 'Always The Guest' and founded Bending The Frame vzw.
She is the curator of , an investigation into the medium of the slideshow with work by renowned photographers such as Sohrab Hura, Antoine d'Agata, Pieter ten Hoopen and Sébastien van Malleghem. In 2020, she released the zine ˜Come out and play'. She is a member of WomenPhotograph and twice contributed her work to .works ,a Belgium female identifying photographer fundraising initiative by

Vernissage on the 7th of March from 6 to 9 pm in attendance by all the photographers and a performance by dancer Amna Mawaz Khan.
Oude Beurs 39, 2000 Antwerpen

After that open until the 24th of March, Thursday to Sunday from 12 to 6pm.
Come say hi. Welcome! 🌷✨🌺

.a.r.y.a.m_m.o.h

26/02/2024

Malika Abbas is a visual artist from Karachi, Pakistan.
She trained and graduated in miniature painting and a minor in photography and uses various artistic mediums in her practice.
Her photography and miniature work, sometimes combined in pieces, is inspired by her personal life, the traumatic loss of her mother and the intense experience of becoming a mother herself.
Her home environment is the canvas for much of her work. The contrasting play of light and shadow adds an alienating air to her work, in which often seems to create a surreal atmosphere.

Vernissage on the 7th of March from 6 to 9 pm in attendance by all the photographers and a performance by dancer Amna Mawaz Khan.
Oude Beurs 39, 2000 Antwerpen

After that open until the 24th of March, Thursday to Sunday from 12 to 6pm.
Come say hi. Welcome! 🧸✨🌺

.a.r.y.a.m_m.o.h

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24/02/2024

Kamand Razavi is a photographer, originally from Iran and based in Brussels, Belgium since 2017.
In her artistic approach she combines photography and performance videos and tries to understand and reclaim the female body.

‘Betrayed Body’ is a 3 part series in which she explores the difficulties a woman undergoes in Iranian patriarchal and religious society.
In the first part she transcribes the anger and radicalism of the bitter memories of a wasted life. Muted, exhausted rage.
In part two, she brings together intimate issues that women have in common and tries to explore the awareness they have of their bodies. Puberty and physical changes, "women's issues" that are often ignored and/or preferred to be ignored.
The third part further explores the challenges the female body faces, as well as the demands imposed by society or the physical changes the body undergoes throughout life. The embodied dimension.

Vernissage on the 7th of March from 6 to 9 pm in attendance by all the photographers and a performance by dancer Amna Mawaz Khan.
Oude Beurs 39, 2000 Antwerpen

After that open until the 24th of March, Thursday to Sunday from 12 to 6pm.
Welcome! 🌹✨🌺

.a.r.y.a.m_m.o.h

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