A descent into the magical world of childhood by Amsterdam-based photographer and psychologist Marike Hoex. Hoex is drawn to that which is left unsaid—secrets, taboos—and approaches her work without staging or preconceived ideas. Children are recurring themes as Hoex is interested in the tension between knowing and not knowing—between what is seen and what remains hidden—a world of both reality and enchantment.

“Inside the whale” touches on Hoex’s own childhood. As a child, she had regular nightmares about being inside of a whale. Simultaneously oppressive and enveloping, that inner world is also one of imagination with the whale taking on mythical status and depths that cannot be fathomed. As adults, Hoex’s images force us to confront the failures of our imagination, charged as they are with the magic of childhood.