Meet the Nominees: Behind the Lens Award

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The Behind the Lens Award recognizes an image maker with expertise in documenting art, exhibitions, and artistic communities, focusing on the Netherlands. Image makers are nominated by a group of approximately 30 art and museum professionals, artists, and editors of magazines and newspapers throughout the country. Selected nominees submit a portfolio for assessment.

The award was made possible by the RAM Foundation from 2021 to 2023 and will be funded by the Mondriaan Fund from 2024 onwards. The prize carries €25,000, acknowledging the critical role of image makers in shaping how art is seen, remembered, and understood.

Other Award Categories

In addition to the Behind the Lens Award, The MELLYs include two other categories, each also carrying a prize of €25,000:

Maker Behind the Maker Award

Honoring the craftspeople, fabricators, and producers whose skills make artistic work possible.

Visionary 010 Award

Recognizing Rotterdam-based cultural leaders whose initiatives shape the city’s creative life.

Meet the Nominees: Behind the Lens Award

The 2025 nominees for the Behind the Lens Award showcase the richness and diversity of image-making in the Netherlands, capturing art, exhibitions, and creative communities through perspectives that are both precise and poetic. From Maarten Nauw, whose photography translates exhibitions and cultural spaces into striking visual narratives, to Jari Nuno, who merges fashion, photography, and urban culture to explore identity and community, these nominees demonstrate how art documentation can be both reflective and transformative.

Also among the nominees is Chris Becher, a documentary photographer whose long-term projects reveal the intimacy and complexity of social and cultural identities, shaped by his experiences across Europe and the Americas. Naema Khalif brings archival research, narrative design, and visual storytelling together to help communities and institutions remember and reimagine their histories, turning personal and collective memory into compelling visual narratives.

Completing the list is Gigi Kraan, a multidisciplinary artist and photographer whose work bridges visual arts, music, and curatorial practice. She celebrates artistic processes and communities alike, amplifying underrepresented voices while nurturing equity and collaboration in the arts.

Together, these five nominees embody the spirit of the Behind the Lens Award: dedication to craft, curiosity for diverse artistic practices, and a commitment to documenting and sharing the stories of creative communities. Their work reflects the legacy of Berry Koedam, whose vision, generosity, and pioneering approach to supporting artists helped shape Rotterdam’s cultural landscape and continues to inspire a new generation of image makers.

Maarten Nauw

Maarten Nauw is a Dutch photographer and cultural producer based in Amsterdam. His clients include 1646, Akademie van Kunsten, Ammodo, Arcam, Arti et Amicitiae, De Ateliers, De Bezige Bij, BIMHUIS, Dürst Britt & Mayhew, The Ekard Residency, Eye Filmmuseum, FIBER, Frans Hals Museum, Foam, Framer Framed, Goethe Institut, Hartwig Art Foundation, Hotel Maria Kapel, If I Can't Dance I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, LIMA, Lustwarande, Madé van Krimpen, Melkweg Expo, Mondriaan Fonds, Museum JAN, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, nai010 uitgevers, Niemeijer Fonds, NIOD, Nxt Museum, Oude Kerk, Rembrandthuis, Rijksmuseum, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, and World Press Photo.

Jari Nuno

Born and raised in Rotterdam, Jari Nuno grew up surrounded by photography, which sparked a lifelong urge to document. Over time, this developed into a practice of capturing communities, producing campaigns for brands, and collaborating with artists to create strong visual identities. Combining his love for his city of Rotterdam with his Cape Verdean heritage, Nuno explores what it means to be young in a dynamic urban context. In 2020, he co-founded Fat Crayon Creative, a Rotterdam-based brand and studio focused on heritage and culture, producing collections and events throughout the year. He also co-founded the O, a collective of five creatives working to educate and create opportunities for younger generations.

Chris Becher

Chris Becher is a documentary and editorial photographer dedicated to long-term projects exploring identity, social difference, and the lasting influence of history on contemporary life through portraiture. Shaped by his working-class background and upbringing across Europe with periods in the Americas, Chris develops both personal and commissioned work. His photography has been shown internationally, including at Art Rotterdam (NL), Fotografia Europea Festival (IT), Centro de la Imagen (MEX), Humble Arts Foundation (US), Städtische Galerie (GER), Melkweg (NL), MEP (FR), Noorderlicht Photo Festival (NL), and Deichtorhallen Hamburg (GER). He has received awards and grants such as the Cultuurfonds Artist Grant (2025), City Archives Amsterdam Documentary Commission Prize (2024), FOTODOK Talent Embassy Award (2024), and the Mondriaan Fonds Emerging Artist Grant (2023). Holding an MA from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK), with additional studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) and National University Bogotá (UNAL), Chris also assists renowned photographer Dana Lixenberg. His recent collaborations include Oude Kerk, FOAM, City Archives Amsterdam, Museum Hilversum, Framer Framed, and publications such as De Correspondent and TRIGGER Magazine. Chris runs UNDERDOC Studio, a studio dedicated to bringing visibility to the work of other artists and art institutions in the creative and cultural field. Recent collaborations include Oude Kerk, FOAM, City Archives Amsterdam, Museum Hilversum, Framer Framed, and publications such as De Correspondent and TRIGGER magazine.

Naema Khalif

Naema Khalif is an Amsterdam-based visual artist, fundraiser, and writer. She helps makers, institutions, and communities remember who they are, what they experience, and why it matters. Her practice spans archives, narrative design, and cultural infrastructures, creating space for complexity across disciplines.

Trained through an MA in Museum Studies at the University of Amsterdam, Khalif has collaborated as a curator, fundraiser, and visual artist with the National Committee for the Commemoration of Slavery, Framer Framed, The Black Archives, OSCAM, The National Maritime Museum, Buro Stedelijk, LVWB Fundraising, The Muslim Archive, The Mondriaan Fund, and Felix Meritis.

Together with Jaer Vogelland, she co-launched For The Futurists: a magazine and exhibition platform celebrating art(ists) in community. The project has partnered with Bar Bario, Kunstlinie, Stichting Sally, The Amsterdam Museum, Coco Olakunle’s Photography Bookclub, The Jollof Club, Richard Kofi (The Museum of Black Futures), Ida Does’ Alledaagse Waarheid, and Soomaal House. Across these roles, Khalif consolidates lived experience with collective memory, bridging intuition and strategy visualising cultural narratives and future visions.

Gigi Kraan

Gigi Kraan is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. Her practice spans commissioned and independent projects, with photographs published internationally. She is guided by a sustained interest in identity, heritage, and representation. In 2024, she was awarded the Breda Photo International Talent Programme, and in 2025, she curated It Means Everything Because This Is Who I Am, which received the St. Joost Penning Award. Its themes resonate with her own photographic explorations of how bloodlines, history, and symbolism shape lived experience. Alongside her independent work, Kraan has been active as a curator. At MOTORMOND, a gallery dedicated to equity and representation in the arts, she served as Communications Lead and in-house photographer. Though she has since stepped down, she continues to collaborate on curatorial projects with alumni and external partners.