Rudger Smits

Through the antique process of wet plate collodion photography, I explore the fragile intersection between presence and impermanence.

Using light, silver, cyanide, and patience, I create portraits that resist the fleeting pace of digital culture and capture something more enduring: a tangible trace of time.

Although created with 19th-century technology, the portraits remain unmistakably contemporary — shaped by the attitude, presence, and directness of the sitter.

I have a strong preference for simplicity in the image. No clothing, no jewelry, no visible makeup — nothing to distract from the timeless human presence. A quiet anchor in this cluttered world. As Charles Mingus said: “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, that’s creativity.”

Each portrait becomes both a physical object and a reflection — ruthless and vulnerable at once.

My workshop is based in Amersfoort, the Netherlands.

• Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
• Delft University of Technology