In conversation with Cheraine Collette
Cheraine Collette, Dutch artist and photographer, takes audiences on a fascinating journey into her creative universe, where photography, painting, and imagination merge to create images of extraordinary evocative power. Through a refined visual language rich in symbolism, she transforms real places, wildlife, architecture, and classical art into poetic visual narratives where reality and imagination blend seamlessly.
Drawing exclusively from photographs she has captured herself over years of travel and exploration, Collette creates richly layered compositions enhanced with digital hand-painting, giving life to immersive worlds filled with beauty, wonder, and emotion.
During this engaging talk, Cheraine Collette will reveal the creative process behind her work, from the initial vision and photographic capture to the finished artwork. She will share how personal experiences, artistic influences, and meticulous craftsmanship come together to create timeless visual stories that celebrate the connection between nature, culture, and imagination.
Through beauty and symbolism, her work invites viewers to rediscover the harmony that unites these worlds.
Take advantage of this event to plan a weekend in Siena and fully experience the exhibitions and events of the Siena Awards Festival.
Info
Location: Teatro dei Rinnovati |
Piazza del Campo, 1 – Siena
Date: 9 october 2026
Time: 4:15 pm
Photographer Biography: Cheraine Collette was born in 1993, in a forest-side town in the east of the Netherlands. Collette started drawing at the age of 3, the first subjects she would try to capture drawing were horses and other animals, quickly after which she would gain insights from her mother about mixing colours and how to draw in perspective by her brother. From the age of 12, she started experimenting with one of the earliest Photoshop suites (CS1), accompanied with a Wacom tablet and pencil, which was all introduced by her father. She instantly used it to paint and to layer- and manipulate her photographs. She finished her education in Photographic Design at the Fotovakschool, University of Applied Photography in 2015. Cheraine Collette’s work is dedicated to showing the constant battle between nature and humanity, the beauty and vulnerability of nature, and historic buildings. To inspire future generations to preserve both our natural heritage and also our cultural heritage. Her work can be summarized in three ways – Authentic, Imaginative, and a longing for beauty. Her instinct is her guide. She longs for the unexplored. Cheraine Collette’s work covers every aspect of photographic production, from photographing- to manipulating and digitally painting her images. In her photography, you will often find fauna, which she has photographed in their own natural habitat, to make the audience more aware that fauna can be left in peace for the final photograph. Essentially, she creates imaginary worlds from scratch. Composed of photographed parts of nature and locations across the globe. Her work is represented by Villa Del Arte Galleries Amsterdam & Barcelona, FotoNostrum Gallery Barcelona, and Saatchi Art California, and has been exhibited in internationally contemporary solo shows and group exhibitions on a global scale, of which SCOPE Miami, Contemporary Istanbul, the 6th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography in Barcelona, and more. In 2022, she launched an exclusive Virtual Exhibition on her personal website, specially designed and produced for her work by FERFERRO. Since 2019, in the course of 2 years, Cheraine Collette has won over one hundred prizes in internationally acclaimed photography competitions such as the International Photography Awards (IPA), the Prix de la Photographie Paris(PX3), the Neutral Density Awards (ND), the Fine Art Photo Awards (FAPA), the International Muse Photography Awards, the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards (2020), the Pollux Awards, the Siena International Photo Awards (SIPA) and the Creative Siena Awards, and more. She published her first book with a multi-award-winning body of work in 2020. Like her work, her books have also won several international awards (Gold in IPA, PX3, TIFA, MIFA).
She continues her practice currently in her studio in Otterlo, the Netherlands.
