Anouk Kruithof

Becoming Blue is the title of a series of a total of 41 photographic works. Of these, five are included in the collection of Art21.
On some pictures you can see on the edges of the portrayed figure, a fraction of a hand, or some hair from another figure. The rather flat, frontal light, and the blank background make these strange details appear more like extensions of the first figure, than those belonging to a second. Effects like these contribute to the slightly bizarre, surreal atmosphere. This is reinforced by the expressive, often strange postures and gestures. The ubiquitous blue color adds only further to this.
Making a good portrait is not an easy task. Certainly not when striving for authenticity. The Anouk Kruithof strategy is to shift the focus of the figure to the ‘situation’. The strange poses, the strange outgrowths, the color blue, all together this creates a deliberately artificial context. The figures seem willing to sacrifice their own existence for this, but at the same time make it clear that this is fundamentally impossible. After all, however much they comply with the instructions of the artist, the fact remains that there is no real role or story. There is only the invented, abstract world of the image. It’s as if those portrayed, because there are no rules anymore, are given the chance to show themselves in a completely new way. Being both vulnerable and self-conscious at the same time.