Hans Eijkelboom’s unconventional take on street style is a fascinating documentation of contemporary tribes

“The basis of the exhibition is the question: which is more important for forming our image of the world—the isolated moment or the continuous flow of more or less repeating images that come to us every day?” This is how Hans Eijkelboom, the photographer whom Martin Parr would call upon if he were a student of anthropology, introduces his latest body of work, Street Fusion: Bristol in 2019, currently on display at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol. 

Marking the Dutch photographer’s first solo outing in the UK, the show comprises over 750 images shot across 11 days last July, laid out in three lines covering 24 metres: it’s a visual formula previously untested by Eijkelboom and underscores his aforementioned intentions (featured in Parr’s 2016 show, Strange and Familiar at the Barbican, his images were projected in a manner closer to a PowerPoint presentation). Furthermore, the ambition for Street Fusion, as Eijkelboom tells SLEEK over email, was both to show a moment from the image stream that informs his world view, and simultaneously to present “a fleeting snapshot of society in Bristol.”

Born in the city of Arnhem in 1949, Eijkelboom has been interested in documenting people and capturing versions of the self for several decades. Earlier work placed him literally in the frame—for example in 1973’s With My Family, in which he ‘stepped in’ for father figures in family portraits, or 10 Euro Outfits, where he modelled looks styled together on a budget of €10, shot between 2005-2006 and published in a 2010 book.

Since the 1990s, he’s been drawn to so-called ‘anti-sartorial’ uniforms, photographing unintentional tribes—men in double denim, women carrying Abercrombie & Fitch carrier bags —for a project called Photo Notes, culminating in the 2014 book People of the Twenty-First Century. According to Eijkelboom, Street Fusion  is both a continuation of and a departure from the project, mirroring the process and aesthetic sensibility (here raincoats, branded tees and rainbow coloured hair are given a platform), while the parameters—focused this time exclusively on the Southern English city of Bristol—have been edited.

“I started working with the concept of identity because of distrust of humanity,” Eijkelboom says of his initial interest in studying people. “As a child just after the war, it was difficult to believe in human goodness. As a result, there was a distrust in myself, what would I have done if I had seen Jews being taken away? Gradually it became clear that such questions are absurd, but the given identity continued to concern me.” Slowly, he says, by looking at people a lot, his relationship with and affection for humanity changed. He continues to be engrossed: that “attempting to find a way in the complex world as a vulnerable individual remains a fascinating process,” he says.

Whether occupying the image himself or shifting his lens onto those around him, the way people present themselves is the nucleus of Eijkelboom’s catalogue; it is what has enabled his trajectory, generating similar intrigue and delight in its audiences. Despite addressing these areas for many years—spending over two decades sourcing the components of Photo Notes alone—the photographer continues to find surprises in the work. “Actually humanity still surprises me,” he asserts, “The world changes every day and in my experience faster, and more and more the essence of my work is always trying to keep the relationship with that world instantaneous.”

Where previously photographers like himself and Parr were among the gatekeepers of documentary photography, the popularity of social media and Instagram specifically, has, like elsewhere in the industry, broadened the range of perspectives we celebrate, providing anyone with a phone the necessary tools. Last summer, for example, while Eijkelboom was photographing Street Fusion, Instagram accounts like @Hot4TheSpot and @leopardmidiskirt— tongue in cheek appreciative pages for a popular Zara dress and Réalisation Par’s leopard skirt, respectively—gained traction for similar observational images.

A natural shift brought about by the internet’s increased domination is something Eijkelboom himself has previously alluded to. Speaking to The Guardian in 2014, he commented that “younger people now, I see more and more that the Web is their city. It’s more important now to have an identity on the Web, which is very different from an identity shown through your clothes.” Elaborating today, he suggests, “In the past, the town square or main shopping street played a major role in the exploration of the question: ‘who am I and what is my relationship with others and the world?’. Now, that function has been partly taken over by the internet and a hybrid person is created for whom the relationship with the internet is almost as important as that with the normal world.”

For the record, Eijkelboom doesn’t have an active Instagram account of his own, despite the current emphasis on his brand of data recording (and thus significant follower potential). He shoots with the camera around his neck and a trigger in his pocket, never for more than two hours and always without headphones playing (“I am trying to concentrate 100% on watching”). Like those he photographs and the grids that marry his images, there is a uniformity to his shooting style and a simplicity to his practice. “I only have one criterion,” he notes, “the chosen subject can be clearly seen in the street scene.” Beyond that, it’s up to the viewer to interpret.

Street Fusion: Bristol in 2019 runs through to 14 March at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol.