Paul Blanca

Blanca was born in Amsterdam. His interest in photography began after he met his contemporary, Eva Veldhoen. She was the daughter of painter Aat Veldhoen. Blanca began using a small, colour camera. He then took black and white photographs using a 6 x 6 cm Hasselblad camera. In the 1980s Blanca received recognition for his violent self-portraits inspired by the works of Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe. In 1986, Blanca's book Timing, was published. It recorded upcoming Dutch artists of the 1980s, complemented by the poems of Koos Dalstra. In the 1990s, Blanca became a journalist for the Amsterdam Weekly; the Nieuwe Revu, and the Het Parool. In 1995, Blanca wrote an article for Nieuwe Revu which discussed the use of grenades and then became linked to an attack on Rob Scholte.

Blanca’s self-portraits reveal strong emotions and violence expressed through fear, aggression, pain, sadness, and sexuality. However, a more sensitive side is shown in the nudes, "Mother and Son" and "Father and Son". The theme of strong emotion is also revealed in Blanca's series "Par la Pluie des Femmes", in which he captured women in tears by having let them think about their most traumatic experiences.