The tension between identity and similarity

Photographic notes from Amsterdam, Paris, New York, and Shanghai

By Hans Eijkelboom, photographer and exhibitor, in the January 2007 issue of de Baak's magazine, inside+insight.

It is the times that we find ourselves among the masses that make us think about our identity. That's when we feel unique, different than the others, and feel a stronger need to reinforce our identity.

In urban areas, shopping centers play an interesting role: On the one hand, we seem to be able to buy everything we need to shape our unique personality. On the other hand, almost everything we buy is mass-produced, which actually associates the owner of a product with the mass of co-consumers. A young woman who buys a blouse in Amsterdam's Kalverstraat to express her personality does not realize that ten others will be buying the same blouse, the same afternoon, for the same reason. This tension between the individual and the mass intrigues me. This area of tension is most noticeable in urban areas.

The young couples in this issue of Inside are from different cities - Amsterdam, Paris, New York, and Shanghai - and although they perceive themselves as very independent, they are, in fact, very similar. I'm interested in the idea that we perceive ourselves as independent individuals but are actually part of a group, market segments for which special products are designed and made.

In 1973, I started working on photography projects that focus on what makes me an individual as opposed to my fellow human beings, and how this individual is shaped. Throughout the years, this interest expanded to the relationship between identity and world view. I was looking for a method to visualize the daily recurring experiences and observations that shape my world view. I found the method in the photography diary I started on November 8, 1992.

My photographs capture day-to-day life on the street. By looking at my photographs, people may just ask themselves where their clothing behavior comes from. I surprise myself, too. Ten years ago I really did not like sandals, and now I'm wearing them, just like so many others. Who or what makes us all look so similar? Identity seems to be a flexible notion, which is actually accentuated by globalization: every big city seems to have an visible need for Louis Vuitton bags.

This series of "young couples" is part of a bigger series of thirty subjects that I photographed in these cities: taxi drivers, mothers with children, etc. I selected the cities according to their "modernity:" Paris was the capital of the 19th century, New York the city of the 20th century, and Shanghai could become the most important city of the 21st century.
Despite their similarities, these cities are very different from each other.
In Paris, history is still palpable at virtually every street corner, and it is obvious that social relationships are still play a prominent role. New York is more homogenous and future-oriented, and designed for independently working individuals. In Shanghai, the totalitarian system is omnipresent; every detail of life is determined by the state, which is a curious mixture of communism and capitalism.

I photograph the patterns I see when I'm visiting a place. Walking around or standing at street corners is the best way of experiencing a city and observing it more or less systematically. In the beginning, walking or waiting is aimless observation, but as soon as I discover a certain theme or subject, that aimlessness turns into photography. I choose themes or subjects that stand out or are often repeated on the street. I take pictures as discretely as possible: I wear a kind of workwear that makes me disappear in the mass. For example: On Wednesday November 26, 2000 I had been standing at the corner of Broadway and 14th Street for about 15 minutes when I noticed that a lot of people were wearing clothes with camouflage colors. As soon as I noticed this, I photographed every one wearing camouflage-colored clothes between 1 and 1:30 P.M. That's how I work.

In September 2007, Hans Eijkelboom's photography exhibition will be shown in its entirety in the FOAM museum in Amsterdam. In parallel, Aperture will be publishing a book with all of the photographs. The exhibition will be shown in New York, from where it will go on tour throughout the U.S.A. It will then go to London and from there to Paris.