Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf, born in 1959 in The Netherlands, originally pursued a career in Journalism, attending the School for Journalism in Utrecht. There, he discovered photography and film. 

Within the diversity of Olaf's subject matter - fashion, cinema, society, history, and advertising - he always achieves a very individual style. This is characterized by, on the one hand, making the personal public, creating unease as the protection of anonymity is drawn aside; and, on the other hand, extending the role of simple voyeur to that of transgressor. We feel his characters to be too intrusive, too close to us, and we imagine taking on their roles to become, for a moment, a porn star, a cruel clown or a martyred celebrity.