This is how Joerg Colberg starts his superb review: “Ordinary People, the catalogue produced at the occasion of Rob Hornstra‘s mid-career retrospective at Fotomuseum Den Haag, might feature the most atypical cover photograph. It’s slightly wonky, and it has six people pose who, this much is clear, ordinarily do not assemble in this fashion.

At the right-hand side of the group, there is a boyish looking man whose body posture betrays being tall and thus having to more or less constantly accommodate to people of more regular height. That’s Rob. There is another interloper, a man with curly hair. That’s Arnold van Bruggen, a writer and Rob’s artistic partner. Together, they have been producing some of the smartest contemporary documentary photography over the past two decades.”

In the retrospective exhibition Ordinary People, Fotomuseum Den Haag offers a fresh look at the work of Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra (1975). Over the last twenty years, Hornstra has created a human portrait of his own time by photographing people in their everyday situations, with a focus on Russia and Europe. Everywhere he goes, he looks for everyday scenes, such as a butcher at his block, an official at his desk or children on the street. Ordinary People highlights the categories that underpin Hornstra’s series, an approach that has faded into the background in his previous publications and exhibitions. This exhibition explores his working method and shows how he, consciously or unconsciously, forges connections between people that extend far beyond national borders.

Damian Zimmermann of the German Photonews Zeitung für Fotografie visited the exhibition Ordinary People. Afterwards, I had a talk with him in the restaurant of Fotomuseum Den Haag.

Click on the link to listen to the episode where I was interviewed by host Nicky Aerts on Pompidou, Radio Klara’s cultural programme (in Dutch).

Interview conducted by AD journalist Nico Heemelaar and published in both the Haagse Courant and Tubantia. On Russia, The Europeans and Borne.

Het Financieel Dagblad magazine: “The fascinating thing about Hornstra’s photographs is that, as time passes, what we see on them becomes more and more special.”

In Beeld in Dutch daily newspaper NRC about Ordinary People: De aangeklede, ingeklede mens, daarom draait het in Hornstra’s overzichtswerk Ordinary People, dat Fotomuseum Den Haag tentoonstelt.

Extensive 4-page article by Mark Moorman about retrospective book and exhibition in Fotomuseum Den Haag with lots of space for photography in Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant.

Interview (in Dutch) on Radio 1 Villa VdB with Jurgen van den Berg: Hoe Rob Hornstra de schoonheid in het alledaagse vastlegt.

Article by Joke de Wolf in Dutch daily newspaper Trouw: ‘Ik maak gemiddeld vijf goede foto’s per jaar, dus niet alles wat hier hangt is perfect’.

My first retrospective exhibition Ordinary People opens on 8 December 2023 at 6 pm. And you are welcome! Click on the link below to view the invitation and register for the opening.

Almost a year ago, I asked writer Lynn Berger if she would be willing to write a text for my book Ordinary People. She wanted to and I was very happy about that. When she was ready, I forwarded her text to publisher Lannoo. The editor responded within an hour: “I don’t think I have ever read such a good essay on photography as Lynn Berger’s for your book. Made my day, really.” Now in De Correspondent in Dutch, English translation in the book.

Announcement of exhibition Ordinary People in Belgium daily newspaper De Standaard.

For Museum magazine, MuseumTV went with me to AAP Lab to interview and film the proces of analogue printing in preparation for the upcoming retrospective exhibition. In Dutch without subtitles.

This year, I celebrate my 20th anniversary as a photographer. A great moment to take a fresh look at my work over the past 20 years. I am doing so together with a retrospective exhibition at Fotomuseum Den Haag, starting from 9 December 2023, and a 320-page retrospective book, published by Lannoo. As the book has become a pretty ambitious project, designed by Kummer & Herrman and collaborating with writers like Lynn Berger and Merel Bem, I have started the pre-sale of a numbered Special Edition, in order to make all plans financially feasible.

My upcoming book Ordinary People will be consisting of around 160 photographs from the various series I have worked on over the past 20 years. My categorical working methodology is the starting point in the image selection, ranging from previously published images to unknown work. Fish processors from Iceland and Den Helder find each other, and civil servants from Russia and France match brotherly next to each other. General information including sample pages of the trade edition of Ordinary People can be found via link below, shipping of the book starts in December 2023.