Going through Gerard Boersma’s portfolio I found myself reflecting on the nature of privacy and voyeurism. Â Living in a large city means witnessing countless moments in strangers’ lives every time you leave your home, and there is an expected sense that you won’t take too much notice, won’t pay too much attention to what anyone else is doing, and they will do the same towards you.
Gerard Boersma has broken that unspoken social contract with his finely rendered images of daily life, forcing me to gaze on strangers longer than is socially acceptable, but simultaneously freeing me to connect with and empathize with these strangers in their tiny moments of struggle, doubt, loneliness and boredom.
