Rob Hornstra - Highlights of Darkrooms Magazine
A special newsletter highlighting an outstanding photographer & project from one of the previous Darkroom Magazine issues
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Because I like to see as many photography enthusiasts as possible enjoying outstanding work, I decided to highlight one of the past projects featured in an earlier issue of Darkrooms Magazine.
Today I highlight the Dutch documentary photographer Rob Hornstra whose project was in Darkrooms Magazine #6
Enjoy!
In the retrospective exhibition Ordinary People, Fotomuseum The Hague offers a fresh look at the work of Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra (1975). Over the last twenty years, Hornstra has created a human portrait of his own time by photographing people in their everyday situations, with a focus on Russia and Europe. Everywhere he goes, he looks for everyday scenes, such as a butcher at his block, an official at his desk or children on the street. Ordinary People highlights the categories that underpin Hornstra’s series, an approach that has faded into the background in his previous publications and exhibitions. This exhibition explores his working method and shows how he, consciously or unconsciously, forges connections between people that extend far beyond national borders. Ordinary People was on view from 9 December 2023 to 17 March 2024.
Categories
With a keen eye for everyday life, Hornstra works within the rich tradition of great humanist photographers such as August Sander, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange and Ed van der Elsken. Hornstra’s projects are based on a self-defined list of categories, including work, government, youth, transport and religion. He uses this list as a guide when producing new work: ‘Working in categories came about when I went to Russia in 2003 for my final exam project. I had never worked abroad before. Before I left, I visualised in very practical terms how my journey would unfold from the moment I stepped off the plane. I want to make a photo book. How do I do that? I want to make portraits. Who do I approach and where do I find those people? The categories emerged at that time.’
This approach was inspired by the German photographer August Sander (1876-1964), who portrayed the German population in the early twentieth century according to certain 'types' and collected them in his book Antlitz der Zeit (The Face of Our Time, 1929). Hornstra’s approach is less rigid – he allows himself to be guided more by what he finds on location – but these categories are nonetheless a common thread running through all his projects.
‘Working in categories and typologies: that defines my approach as a photographer. Whenever I arrive somewhere, whether it's the Black Country in England or a remote village in Russia, my number one priority is to photograph a butcher in a butcher’s shop, a chef in his kitchen, a football player on the pitch, an old veteran with medals – I can’t get enough of them.’
Russia
In the first ten years of his career, Hornstra focused on Russia, where he documented the shift from an emerging economy to an increasingly closed society. While working on several stories in Russia, his freedom of movement was gradually curtailed. After publishing work that was critical of the Russian government’s role in the North Caucasus, he was placed on a blacklist and is no longer allowed to enter the country. One of his best-known series about Russia is The Sochi Project: An Atlas and Tourism in the Caucasus (2014), a long-term project he worked on together with the writer Arnold van Bruggen, which has garnered much international praise.
About Rob
Rob Hornstra is a Dutch photographer of predominantly long-term projects, both at home and around the world. He has published numerous books, both self published and in collaboration with renowned international publishers. His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide and he is seen as an epitome in alternative ways of exhibiting work that aims to reach new audiences. He is the founder and former artistic director of FOTODOK – Space for Documentary Photography and former head of the BA and MA Photography at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague. Currently he is working together with writer Arnold van Bruggen on The Europeans 2020 – 2030, a project on Europe in times of drastic change. Four times per year he runs a popular live talk show about photo books in his hometown Utrecht.
See more of Rob Hornstra’s work at his website
This brilliant project is one of the 11 fascinating projects in issue #6
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This goes really hard!
They sure are.