Girls with Pearls

 

I created Girls with Pearls out of my love for 17th-century Dutch painters and their extraordinary use of light. For this series, I was guided by the masterpieces of Johannes Vermeer. His paintings formed the framework, but I found my muses in everyday life: people I happened to meet on the train, in the supermarket, or simply while walking down the street. In every face, I saw a story waiting to be told.

My quest was to capture the same sense of timelessness that lives within Vermeer’s work. To create a quiet, intimate moment that feels almost tangible. I let myself be led by his delicate compositions, the play of lines, the colours, and above all, the magic of light. From that essence, I transformed each image into the present, adding a contemporary twist, breathing new life into the original works and retelling their stories in a new way -  searching for connection between cultures, and between past and present.
Each photograph became a puzzle of styling, location, atmosphere, and detail. I photographed in Delft, in places connected to Vermeer, which made the process both challenging and inspiring. Nothing could ever be fully controlled, and that was precisely what made it real. That authenticity resonates in every portrait.

And then, when everything finally came together, an unexpected moment of magic would appear: the mood, the gaze, the light, the layers - like a pearl. In this way, Vermeer’s Girl revealed many surprising new faces.