Inspiration from Rob Honstra
April 18, 2020Rob Hornstra has an interesting business concept - he rents out framed photos for people to hang on their walls. I had a look through his online store at some of the images available for rent, and they seemed to me to be an odd collection of photos to want to display inside your home. In any case, three in particular stood out to me as points of inspiration and idea generation for fleshing out my own body of work.
This is a portrait of a now deceased man, but it reminds me slightly of a passport photo. I am already planning to include the photo of Shinya that I keep in my purse as a page in my photobook, but perhaps I should explore passport photos (which have a similar aesthetic and use) of myself too? I think that passport photos are a kind of fabricated representation of an individual, because of the strict requirements that often result in the subject looking nothing like their true self. (My own passport photo, for example, has my hair slicked back off my face, when in fact I have worn a heavy blunt fringe for the past 10+ years of my life, and nobody ever sees my forehead.)
“Roman uses parsley in the plov, an Uzbek rice dish that he cooks every day for his fellow prisoners. “Coriander would be better,” he says, “but try getting hold of that in here.”
This reminds me of the empty plate mini series that I am working on at the moment. I think there is something so personal and telling about images of people’s meals. The simplicity in both the framing and the meal draw me to this image.
“I’m going into the woods. I’m joining the Mujahedeen brothers. Don’t register me as missing; it will only result in unnecessary unpleasantness for you. I can’t come back. I ask you not to stop [my sister] Nargiz from saying her prayers, ” wrote Shamil Zaidov in his farewell letter to his mother.
I was considering including hand written letters in my series, despite its main focus being on digital connection, however I have not yet investigated that thought further. This image has made me reconsider exploring the use of written documents in my work. I don’t usually hand write letters to Shinya, except on birthdays, but I do feel that there is something much more personal about a hand written letter vs a typed message.
(1) Hornstra, R 2010, Nikolay Zetunyan, Nizhny Eshera, Abkhazia, photograph, viewed 18 April 2020, <https://www.robhornstra.com/photo-rental/nikolay-zetunyan-nizhny-eshera-abkhazia-2010>
(2) Hornstra, R 2010, Plov, Dranda, Abkhazia, photograph, viewed 18 April 2020, <https://www.robhornstra.com/photo-rental/plov-dranda-abkhazia-2010>
(3) Hornstra, R 2010, Farewell Letter, Derbent, Dagestan, Russia, photograph, viewed 18 April 2020, <https://www.robhornstra.com/photo-rental/farewell-letter-derbent-dagestan-russia-2012>