The idea for the 3D photo boxes stems from a disability: Femke was born with one eye. She always wondered how two eyes perceive depth. To find out, she took photos with as much depth as possible. Foreground, background, and preferably as many layers as possible in between. She kept the horizon straight. From the enlarged photo on paper, she then cut out the layers. She traced each layer onto plywood and jigsawed it out. She glued the corresponding photo onto each layer of plywood and then glued all the layers together. It works!

During various travels (including India, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Turkey, Croatia, Romania, the USA, and France), Femke Hoyng takes photos that she literally gives depth. Sections of the photos are cut out and placed on jigsaw-cut pieces of wood of various heights. The photos themselves are not manipulated; the flat surface is simply drawn in a spatial dimension. Femke places the relief in a (sometimes hinged) frame onto which she paints colorful patterns and symbols, which engage in dialogue with the culture of the country where the photo was taken.

Femke also directs animated films. The photo booths Hoyng creates are a "cinematic" approach to the medium of photography. The playful, childlike way in which two-dimensional photos are transformed into three-dimensional reliefs is reminiscent of the cut-and-paste work that characterizes the animated film process.

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