Artist statement: I started the Faceless series in the summer of 2020, in between lockdowns, on the streets of Europe, with a stealthy camera. In 2021, again in between lockdowns, I continued the series in other European cities. The more people I photographed, the more variations of human response to the pandemic I witnessed, the more I realized: the uncertainties in their eyes and body language is like my own. During the editing process, in lockdown, looking back at hundreds of anonymous strangers with masked faces, I got intrigued by a common contemplating discomfort in their expressions. It inspired me to separate the people portrayed from the ones around them, delete backgrounds, reduce colors, and add grayness, to emphasize the uncertain state of mind, a sense of loss and isolation, I recognize and have felt since the beginning of this global crisis.
Title photo #1, year: No title (Faceless series), 2021
Title photo #2, year: No title (Faceless series), 2021
Artist, title series, year: Dave Zijlstra, Faceless, 2020-2022
Medium: digital photography and editing
Digital print on Fine Art Paper, 100 x 80 cm
Edition of 10 + 2AP
