About

Adriaan van Heerden is an international award winning photographic artist whose poetic and poignant photographs have garnered accolades around the world. Adriaan came to photography via a PhD in Philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge, where his dissertation explored the fundamental roles that tragedy, humour and love play in our shared human existence and experience of the world, and Adriaan now uses photography as a means to illuminate these themes.

Adriaan’s work has been exhibited in London (including Cork Street, Pall Mall, and Mayfair), Barcelona, Kyoto and Singapore, and his pictures are held in private and corporate collections in the UK, the USA and South Africa.

He is currently represented by RISE Art and Argenta Fine Art.

AWARDS

Adriaan’s awards include the following:

  • First Prize Winner in the ArtGemini Award 2015 (Photography);
  • Honourable Mention, Worldwide Photography Gala Awards 2021;
  • Finalist in the ArtGemini Award 2019;
  • Finalist in the ArtGemini Award 2018;
  • Second round of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2018;
  • Highly Commended in the ArtGemini Award 2017 (Photography);
  • Recipient of Premio O.R.A. Award 6th Edition 2017 to collaborate with 3)5 Arte Contemporanea Gallery in Rieti, Italy;
  • Shortlisted for the 2nd Charles Dodgson B&W Award 2017 in three categories (Fine Art; Landscapes and Seascapes; People, Culture and Daily Life);
  • Second round of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2017;
  • Shortlisted for the 5th Zebra Black and White Awards 2017 in three categories (Fine Art; Landscape and Nature; People and Animals);
  • Finalist in the ArtGemini Award 2016 (Photography);
  • Finalist in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2014 & 2015;
  • Runner-Up Winner in the Art Has No Borders International Art Competition on the Animal Kingdom 2014;
  • Highly Commended in the USA Landscape Photographer of the Year Competition 2014;
  • Shortlisted for the East West Art Awards 2014;
  • Selected to be one of four Artists in Residence at the JARFO Gallery in Kyoto in April 2015.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • Unreal City, Bonhams (London), 2019
  • David Shepherd Wildlife Gallery (Surrey), 2014
  • Royal Automobile Club (Woodcote Park, Surrey), 2014
  • Bloomsbury Design (London), 2012
  • Bollington Art Centre (Cheshire), 2010

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • ArtGemini Award 2019 Finalists’ Exhibition (Gallery NaWei, Singapore), 2019
  • ArtGemini Award 2018 Finalists’ Exhibition (Menier Gallery, London), 2018
  • ArtGemini Award 2017 Finalists’ Exhibition (Asia House Gallery, London), 2017
  • Nehru Centre (Mayfair, London), 2017
  • Black Gallery (Tring, Hertfordshire), 2017
  • Framers Gallery (Fitzrovia, London), 2017
  • ArtGemini Award 2016 Finalists’ Exhibition (Asia House Gallery, London), 2016
  • ArtGemini Award 2015 Finalists’ Exhibition (Menier Gallery, London), 2015
  • EWAAC Artists Exchange Exhibition (Ravenscourt Park, London), 2015
  • EWAAC Art Exhibition (Chelsea, London), 2015
  • JARFO Gallery (Kyoto), 2015
  • Cork Street Open Exhibition (London), 2013
  • Royal Automobile Club (Pall Mall, London), 2008