Between Reflection and Reality

Solitude, for me, means feeling like an outsider—standing slightly apart from the world around me. From that position, reality itself appears surreal. Photography moves between representation and abstraction, a medium that both depicts and distorts.

As Susan Sontag wrote, it is inherently surrealistic: each image adds a chosen layer of reality upon what already exists.

In my work, I seek the tension between what is seen and what is the surreal. The image

becomes less a record and more a layered field of abstraction—both in its construction and

in the thoughts from which it arises. These layers reflect the ambivalence of reality: there is

never one truth, yet a coherent artwork must find unity within that ambivalence.

The Zen principle of non-duality resonates deeply with me: self and world, reflection and

depth, are not two. Like water surfaces, my images hover between what can be seen and

what is not there to be seen—where reality and the surreal merge.

To me, whatever “is”, generally appears not to be what it seems to be.

Author: Dutch Artist "Herr Schrouff" - Instagram @herr_schrouff

Photographic Work by Dutch Artist Herr Schrouff