Girls in Paris is a photographic project centred around eight women living in Paris, each navigating questions of freedom, self-expression and sexuality in her own way.
The project began after Dekker was commissioned to create a feminist calendar in France. During this process, he became aware of the contrast between France’s progressive image and the everyday reality many women experience — where personal expression is still questioned, judged or limited.
Rather than presenting a single message, Girls in Paris gives space to the women themselves. The photographs move between confidence, vulnerability, playfulness and strength, allowing each subject to define her own presence in front of the camera.
The images are paired with fragments of language the women encounter in daily life — remarks, criticism and assumptions about how they look or behave. Printed on transparent canvases that partially cover the photographs, these texts ask viewers to read before they look, highlighting the tension between external judgement and self-determined identity.
Girls in Paris captures a generation of women quietly but confidently reshaping the space they occupy — not through slogans, but through lived experience.
⭐ Review of the exhibition on GalleryViewer: English / Dutch
