icebreaker

published through APR - JULY 2016

by theodorus johannes

Wouldn’t it be fun to for once look inside someone else’s head and find out what they would be thinking about you? Instead of asking people to tell me, I started experimenting with the creative minds of random strangers, asking them to take a photo of me. This experiment continuously results in a photo diary of my colourful outfits and people unconsciously showing me what they see when they look at me.

Photo's below are taken by complete strangers who each get the freedom to take one or more photos of me; each entry is filed with their first or full name and a quote I picked up from the encounter. However, some of the participants chose to not give their actual name but gave an anonymous name.

Zou het niet grappig zijn om eens in iemand anders’ hoofd te kunnen kijken om te zien wat ze van je denken? In plaats van dit aan mensen te vragen begon ik te experimenteren met de creatieve geest van willekeurige vreemdelingen, met de vraag of ze een foto van me willen nemen. De voortvloeiende foto’s uit dit experiment laten zien wat de onbewuste voorbijganger ziet als ze naar mij kijken.

Onderstaande foto’s zijn genomen door geheel onbekenden die ieder de vrijheid krijgen om één of meer foto’s van mij te nemen; elk item is aangevuld met hun voor- of volledige naam en een spreuk die ik oppikte bij de ontmoeting. Echter, sommige deelnemers kozen niet hun echte naam te geven en blijven anoniem.

arnhem JUNE 17

Sadly, I didn't get the name of the woman taking this picture, although she did complement me on my bravory wearing this outfit.

arnhem JUNE 11

Mark van Beek wasn't shy at all when he took these photos

Piet took this picture after pointing and laughing at me.

arnhem JUNE 8

arnhem JUNE 2

I wasn't too fond of Jens calling me "Conchita Wurst" in the streets, but I am happy he proved himself wrong.

ENKHUIZEN MAY 29

When I visited the National Costume day in the
 Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen, I was privileged enough to

have Boelo take our picture.

Such an honour to be in a photo with such a pretty lady!

ARNHEM MAY 24

Marlien just said "W0w" taking this picture . . .

ARNHEM MAY 21

Marie seemed really annoyed when I asked if she could take a photo of me on the market. Then again, the market on saturdays are always so crowded!

ARNHEM MAY 19

Edson Polonia told me his morning story about how he woke up next to another man, although he doesn't identify as gay.

After that, he sang me "Man in the Mirror" by Micheal Jackson.

"I want you to look thinking seriously"

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN NES AND HOLWERD, MAY 17

Since the group of colleages was so in awe of my question to get photographed, they in their turn wanted to take a photo with me!

Jacquelien sent me these pictures

Since I've never been to Ameland before, I thought to have one of the locals take a quick snapshot. Paula was so enthusiastic, she couldn't hold the camera, so her colleage Paul helped out.

Paula later asked me to join their group of colleages, they where super nice!

Claudia, a tourist from Essen (Germany) took these photos on the ferry back to Holwerd

Arnhem MAY 13

When she stopped to tell my I looked great, Greta took these two.

These photos where taken by Esra, who really had me posing like someone famous.

Koen admitted he really wanted to have this bicycle for his own, so I modelled him one ;-)

arnhem may 6

 ..

Photos by Carla Konings from IJbergen: "ooooh so pretty! People in Amsterdam dress like you, because in Amsterdam, you can"

Taken by Lacopa from Congo: "You're wearing Vlisco. People in my country wear Vlisco. EXPENSIVE! EXPENSIVE!"

Nadia told me "You look like a photo model" when she took these pictures

arnhem may 3

Willem: "Now you must be a student at the fashionacademy!"

Jan took this photo

When Ronald took these, he didn't say much . . .

arnhem may 2

This photo was taken by Jan, who was having some difficulty handling the disposable camera, saying "How do you work with this?"

Left photo was taken by Damla and the photo on the right was taken by Minnel: "PRETTY COLOURS!!"

Karima felt really creative making pictures of me: "You make all your clothes yourself? I'm jealous!"

"I want you to look thinking seriously"

Photos taken by Agnes who was shopping with her sisters: "I find it really special, the things you're wearing."

arnhem april 26

Shying away when she handed me back my camera, Ayce giggled something in a foreign language to her friend when she took this photo.

Taken by Piet

arnhem april 25

Kenneth ensured me "People ask me strange things all the time" when I asked him if he'd take my picture.