Dutch photographer Jan Hoek employs the use of absurd props, costumes, and backdrops to create a world where eccentricity and fantasy reign supreme. Side-stepping the traditional boundaries between artist and subject, he gives his collaborators a say in how they’re dressed and posed, and encourages them to bring their own personalities to the work. The relationships he develops over the course of production are as important as the images themselves, and primarily with non-models—including patients at a psychiatric hospital, sex workers, and motorbike taxi drivers. Along with his personal projects, he’s created work for the New York Times, the Stedelijk Museum Breda, and Museum Night Amsterdam.
