vimeo video_id="161752124" width="1000" height="563“] Kim and Paul I know already for quite a long time. I met Kim when she still was a drug user and I photographed her in my own home. It turned out she had a model dream and one year later, when she out of nothing stopped using drugs (al though she still drinks beer, a lot of beer) I organized a fashion shoot for her. The last step in our relationship as model and photographer, but at the same as friends, was that we went on holiday all together. Kim never had been on holiday before. KIM & PAUL'S TRIP from Jan Hoek on Vimeo.

These are so called sweet crazies, a group of Ethiopian homeless people with mental problems. I felt they we’re amazing because they all looked like kings or emperors, like they just stepped of the catwalk. My intention was to give these people during the photo shoot that royal feeling, even if it was just for a moment. As if they we’re the stars.

vimeo video_id="35266538" width="1000" height="563“] When I was graduating at art school I worked in a sex shop with a sex cinema/cruising area upstairs. I was there to sell the tickets for that dark gloomy space full of glory holes and the aroma of poppers. I always had a free relationship with my mother in which I didn't feel ashamed to her about almost anything. But my connection with such a space still was something I was embarrassed for, so I decided to show her the place in real life. Jan Hoek from Slideluck on Vimeo.

These are works from 10 different magazines that I all made in the sex tourism capital of the world: Pattaya. The most people see it as the most horrible place on earth and it has countless nicknames such as 'Soddom and Gomorro on earth' and 'Disneyland for Adults', but during my two month-stay there I saw something else as well: It was also a place for second chances, both for the Thai girls, boys and ladyboys who are working there and now can have a life with a lot of money and partying as for the men who come there from all over the world and can have a second youth there. The biggest problem I saw in Pattaya was not human trafficking (you have that in Bangkok, but barely in Pattaya) but either Thai girls or boys or Western man being love sick, because they had expectations too high. Well there is so much to say about Pattaya and there are so many ways you can look at this city, that I decided that making one book, from one point of view wouldn't be enough. So i made ten different little books, all with a different angle.

vimeo video_id="87997686" width="1000" height="563“] I graduated with this movie called 'Me & My Models' in which u see all the models I photographed by then and I explain during the movie what happend between me and my models during, before and after the shoot. I believe there is always a certain degree of ethics involved in photography. It is almost impossible to take photographs of people without consciously, or unconsciously, crossing boundaries and with things happening that you don’t want or expect. I feel this is often covered up in photography, while I would like to show it … Me & My Models - Jan Hoek from Jan Hoek on Vimeo.

This project is about the colourful looks of transgender sex workers that roam the streets of Cape Town, South Africa. Together with fashion designer Duran Lantink we created a series of photographs and a fashion collection around their fashionable appearances, and their ability to make the most exuberant creations of everything they find. The local sex workers’ organisation, S.W.E.A.T., gave us the opportunity to meet and collaborate with their transgender support group Sistaazhood. For this project, we zoomed in on six girls from the community: Coco (25), Cleopatra (23) Sulaiga (30), Gabby (29) Flavinia (33) and Joan Collins (57). Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge beside the castle of Cape Town. I photographed their lives and their outfits. The photos also serve as a lookbook for the collection of Duran. He was inspired by the creative ability of the girls to produce beautiful creations from found pieces of garments. He recognised a similarity to his own process, using different recycling methods and collage techniques. We were also interested in how the girls would want to look like if they had unlimited possibilities. One of the girls, Gabby, would like to work in a luxurious Victorian brothel. The 57-year-old Joan Collins dreams of a wedding dress and a third wants to become Miss Africa. Here beneath u can see how the fashion show looked like:

'SISTAAZ OF THE CASTLE' DURAN LANTINK x JAN HOEK 2016 from Laura Rijnties on Vimeo.