Asvani, the alter ego of Frans van As, began creating photo compositions at the age of seventy-three – a new form of visual art within his practice. In all the compositions presented here, Asvani appears both as the creator and as the visible form of every figure within the work.

What began as an experiment in transformation evolved into an ongoing challenge: exploring the freedom within the stylistic spectrum from which women can draw so freely. The works thus became a study of gender transition and, at its core, a continuous confrontation between outer appearance and inner reality.

With each transformation, the woman he created gained a stronger sense of identity; the ‘he’ disappeared, and only ‘she’ remained. She gave herself the name Zudde. Zudde became a person in her own right – a woman who claims her own existence, with her own will, thoughts, dreams, and desires.

She became an experiment that experimented with itself. She determined her own ways of appearing, of performing, of shaping the Illustrious World of Zudde, surrounded by figures of her own making.

Yet her glamour and extravagance inevitably yielded to reality. Like a model stepping off the catwalk, she vanished when the session ended and she became he, puting on his own clothes back on.

With deep respect for her undeniable presence – as she revealed herself again and again – Asvani created an extensive series of compositions in which she is always the central figure: sometimes alone, more often as multiple creations of herself, in ever-changing forms and configurations. Each composition stands as an autonomous work; together, they form the Illustrious World of Zudde.