My Name Is Sander Dekker

On Saturday the 2nd of June opens My Name Is Sander Dekker, a solo exhibition by photographer Sander Dekker at TORCH gallery in Amsterdam. One part of the exhibition shows photo's that belong to the ongoing series 'The Project', while the other part is an installation called 'TenFifteen', consisting of thousands of tiny photographs.

The style of Dekker is easily recognizable, due to his working method that could be described as spontaneous and playful. When shooting, Dekker does not know how the photos will turn out in the end, as he always tries to capture the unexpected. ‘The Project’ is an ongoing series of portraits created by Sander Dekker from 2011onwards. His subjects are never his friends or acquaintances, but people he finds on social media. He chooses people he admires as his subjects: outgoing, spontaneous, and always a bit eccentric. He contacts them to ask if he can photograph them at home, then books a ticket and gets on the plane. Raging through their house together, Dekker captures the high energy of that first encounter. A shoot usually last for an hour or so, before he’s off to his next visit. Meeting his models just before the session and working without a preconceived concept, creates the spontaneity that is distinctive of Dekker’s work. It results in great compositions and surprising crops that reflect the freedom and expressiveness of the people in front of his camera. When trying to capture their personalities, it’s almost as if Dekker hopes that these qualities will rub off on him. Yet after all these years, he prefers to stay behind the camera, where he can admire their eccentric beauty and pay tribute to them through his pictures.

When arriving at the back of the gallery, you are entirely surrounded by thousands of black and white photo's. All of them ten by fifteen centimetre (hence the name 'TenFifteen') they cover the surface like unique wall tiles. They offer an astonishing impression of the life and complete work of Dekker since the pictures are collected from his 'The Project', private pictures, travel documentation and commissioned work. By means of a telescope, one can zoom in on one specific photo to get a closer look, or using one of the available enlarging glasses. The photo's of this installation can be acquired by square meter, where after Dekker will install them on your wall himself. Or just pick the one(s) you like and have them floating in a frame. As an extra, there will be twenty-five unique signed and numbered 'magic photo mugs', that only reveal the photo on it, when pouring in a hot drink. So your purchase stays a surprise until your return home.