Portraits, Maren

by Richard Westerhuis

Who are you really? What do you show to another? To what extent do you hide behind clothing or image? In the series Portraits, we see a great diversity of people. In a snapshot, they show something of themselves. They have shed their masks. Looking straight into the camera, or averting their gaze: what might they be thinking? Richard Westerhuis has a fascination with the human body. Every body consists of the same parts, yet everyone is different. The variation is endless. The choice for nudity is obvious to him; clothing is too distracting. Without clothing, we suddenly seem much more alike. Of course, there are individual differences, but then suddenly we seem much more similar to each other. Here we see a contradiction that also manifests in our behavior. On the one hand, we want to be unique, but ultimately we do not want to be different from others. This makes the risk of falling outside the group too great. Humans are social animals, living in groups. We function best when we live together with others. By being able to look at another without distraction, we become aware of the similarities. We see looks that betray emotions and feelings that we know all too well. The distance between ourselves and the other is thereby reduced. First and foremost, we are all human.