Marlike Marks
◼︎ Marlike Marks
Marlike Marks is a Rotterdam-based photographer whose medium-format work reflects the quiet connections between people and their surroundings. Her recent projects explore the subtle rhythms of the natural world, observing stillness, transformation, and the passage of time.
She traces these rhythms: shifting seasons, soft transitions of light, and the ever-changing sky. Photography is a way to hold on, give shape to feeling, and make time and memory visible. Through repetition and close observation, she invites viewers to slow down, to linger, and to rediscover the subtle beauty in the world around them.
While her earlier work centered on relationships between lovers, friends, and family, these themes now appear more subtly — woven into a broader reflection on the landscape we inhabit and how it shapes us. By noticing small shifts and fleeting moments, she invites us to be present, to be enchanted, and to feel deeply.
Her work is held in various private collections, has been acquired by Bureau Financieel Toezicht, and is included in Stadsarchief Rotterdam.
Marlike Marks, 2022
© Nanno Stilma
◼︎ Biography
Marlike Marks lives and works in Rotterdam. She graduated with honours in Photography in 2015 and continued developing her practice through postgraduate programs at the Photo Academy Amsterdam and Breda Photo. Her work has been exhibited widely in the Netherlands, including at Ballon Rouge, Huis van de Fotografie, De Doelen Art Studio, Rotterdam Photo, and Fotofestival Naarden, and has been published internationally. She has received several awards and grants, including the Jury Prize of De Kracht van Rotterdam in 2018. Driven by a desire for a stronger photographic community in Rotterdam, she founded Ballon Rouge in 2022.
◼︎ Discover works by Marlike Marks
◼︎ Selected Exhibitions
Solo
2024 Sunflower Lane, Ballon Rouge, Rotterdam
2022 Looking at Love, Ballon Rouge, Rotterdam
2021 Memories of Tomorrow, Huis van de Fotografie, Rotterdam
Group
2025 Where We Were, Ballon Rouge, Rotterdam
2025 Resonances from the void, De Doelen Art, Rotterdam
2023 Closer, Ballon Rouge, Rotterdam
2022 De Magie van Polaroid, Art Centre, Schiedam
2022 Constructions of Desire, Foundation Bad, Rotterdam
2019 Love is Lost, Rotterdam Photo, Deliplein, Rotterdam
2018 Winterreise, Galerie Sehnsucht, Rotterdam
2018 De Kracht van Rotterdam, Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam
2015 Laagseizoen, Foto Festival Naarden
See full CV
Images © Vivian Ammerlaan