Kairos

With a career spanning decades, Derksen has built an impressive body of work. His ability to capture the essence of a moment, combined with his unique worldview, has resulted in a remarkable portfolio.

His book Kairos marks a significant milestone in that body of work. It is a collection of 88 carefully selected black-and-white photographs taken on medium-format film from 1997 to 2006. The images were captured in various locations, including China, India, the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Egypt, Romania, Thailand, Syria, and Russia. This previously unpublished collection not only represents an artistic choice but also a pivotal moment for Derksen: it is the last series of black-and-white photographs he created in the analog era before transitioning to digital color photography.

His exploration of the possibilities of digital photography culminated in his first color publication, Disneyfication. That book, named one of the top 10 best Dutch photo books of 2019 by *De Volkskrant*, marked a new phase in his photographic approach.

Stef Van Bellingen writes about Derksen’s work:

“We all gaze at reality, but Theo Derksen reads into it. As a photographer, he draws dividing lines in space and in the flow of time that passes through his imaginary frame, giving weight to fleeting events. Derksen hunts for a precise moment, a qualitative instant. His hunt is an alert waiting for the phenomenon of time to spontaneously orchestrate a unique encounter for him. In that one split second, his images are born with a camera click. What makes Derksen’s photographs so remarkable is that everything – like life itself – starts from the most insignificant.”

Theo Derksen studied architecture for four years, worked as an urban planner for a time, and then pursued studies in photography and audiovisual design at St. Joost in Breda. He began his career as an intern with the renowned Magnum photographer Ernst Haas. His work quickly gained national and international recognition, resulting in exhibitions, publications, and awards such as the Kodak Award and the Dunhill Award. He has also received support from organizations like Polaroid, Kodak, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, the Province of Limburg, and the city of Weert. His work is included in various collections worldwide.

In addition to his work as a photographer, Derksen contributed to photography education. From 1990 to 2015, he was a part-time photography professor and research instructor at the Maastricht Institute of Arts, where he was also part of the management of the Visual Communication and Media Design & Technology departments. Derksen also served as a visiting professor at various European educational institutions.