About

Johan Pape

Photographer · Tilburg, The Netherlands

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I photograph people, the spaces they inhabit, and the moments in between.

My background is in sociology, and perhaps that explains part of my fascination with photography. I am interested in people, but even more in what happens between people: encounters, behaviour, coincidence, belonging and the small signs that reveal something about the society we live in.

The street is my natural environment.

I don't go out looking for a particular photograph. I walk, observe and wait for something to happen — a gesture, a look, a strange combination of people and surroundings, a moment of humour or an unexpected connection. Sometimes the photograph is carefully observed; sometimes it is simply there for a fraction of a second.

I also approach people directly. Some of my projects begin with a simple question. In What are they listening?, for example, I photographed people wearing headphones and asked what they were listening to. In other projects I have asked people about identity, discrimination, belonging and what it means to feel at home.

These encounters are important to me. They turn photography from merely looking at people into a form of dialogue.

My work moves between street photography, portraiture and documentary photography, with concert photography as another part of my practice. The subjects may change, but my interest remains the same: people and the stories that can be glimpsed in a single image.

I am drawn to photographs that leave something unresolved.

A photograph doesn't have to explain everything. Sometimes a question is more interesting than an answer.

I am still curious about what is around the next corner.

The whole world is a stage,
and everybody is playing a part.

— William Shakespeare