Hi, I’m Marieke
I graduated in Photographic Design back in 2013.
At the time, I thought photography would be my path—and in many ways, it was. But it would take years, detours, breakdowns, and rebirths before I could fully claim it.
In 2015, I hit a wall. Burnout in Amsterdam, the kind that cracks you open and makes you question everything. I did what most people do—I turned to my mind. Cognitive therapy. Trying to fix myself. But healing doesn't happen through intellect alone. I needed something deeper.
That’s when I found yoga. Mindfulness. And eventually, India.
India showed me that healing isn’t about control, it’s about surrender.
I started working with a powerful somatic therapist, and from there the spiral deepened: breathwork, women's circles, ecstatic dance, trauma release, energetic bodywork. And slowly, my body—this body I had spent years dissociating from—began to feel like home.
I began to feel my life force.
Photography started to call me back. But this time, not just as an art form—
as a way to witness essence. To capture energy. To document remembrance.
Qualifications
I’ve been into photography most of my life.
Graduated in photographic design in 2013.
My lens trained on everything from fashion to raw portraiture to documentary storytelling. Photography taught me how to see. How to hold space for what wants to be revealed. How to meet someone in their essence, unguarded, unmasked.
But my roots go deeper.
I am a Kundalini Bodywork and De-armouring practitioner (L1 & 2, trained by Elliot Saxby) and a LEAP—Lifeforce Energy Activation Process facilitator (trained by Robin Erkel). These modalities have become gateways into the intelligence of the body. They’ve taught me how to listen, how to witness, and how to guide the release of deep-rooted tension and energetic blockages—gently, safely, and with reverence.
I work directly with the body’s energy fields, supporting others in activating their life force and stepping into a deeper alignment with their own truth.
In 2019, I became a certified Mindfulness Trainer (MBSR), and in 2017, I completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training in India. Between 2017 and 2020, Mama India became my second home, pulling me into sacred teachings, Buddhist meditation, and long silent retreats that cracked me open and rearranged my insides. I still return as often as I can.
Holding space
Whether through Energetic Bodywork, de-armouring or photography, I hold space for what wants to be felt and seen.
These days, my camera is an extension of my healing practice. Photography is part of my medicine, it’s somatic witnessing. I offer 1:1 photo sessions that are not just about beauty, but about essence. About reclaiming your image from the inside out. Photography as remembrance. As mirror work. As embodied ritual.
I also capture sacred spaces—retreats, ceremonies, trainings—translating the energetic field into image, so the unseen becomes visible.
Since 2015, my own inner work and professional training have shaped the way I hold space—for healing, for transformation, for truth. Holding space is heart work. It’s being fully present, soft in the belly, open in the heart, clear in intention, and anchored in trust.
Groningen, The Netherlands, is my home base, but my soul always wants to travel and explore. I’m available worldwide!
