Interview with Gilleam Trapenberg
When photographing Ovo in the Bijlmer, the location needed an equal amount of attention as I wanted her to interact with
her surroundings. My photography is very much influenced by my childhood. I grew up in Curacao where there are
certain cultural codes as to what it means to be a man and often a lot of importance is put on appearance. This has a big
influence on my work seeing as I mainly touch on themes of status, identity and the current image culture. I believe that
certain objects and situations should be left the way they are. This often results in an interesting dynamic between me and
the subject being portrayed. I would not necessarily call myself a documentary photographer. I often use the documentary
aesthetic, but I am far more interested in the blurring of different photographic genres.