The Social Media Project
2011 – 2021
Between 2011 and 2021, Sander Dekker worked on The Social Media Project, a long-term series that started from a simple curiosity: who are people really, beyond their online presence?
Using social media as a starting point, Dekker contacted individuals he had never met before and asked to photograph them in their own homes. He avoided getting to know them in advance, allowing each encounter to unfold naturally. The sessions were short, spontaneous and largely improvised, shaped by the energy of meeting a stranger rather than by a fixed plan.
While photographing, Dekker would talk with his subjects about their lives, their online personas and the gap between the two. When someone turned out to be as open and unapologetic in real life as they appeared online, the images were often accompanied by short written portraits, giving the subjects space to share their own voice.
The photographs are direct and intimate, capturing brief moments of connection between two strangers. Nothing is staged or rehearsed — what happens in front of the camera is simply what happens.
Looking back, The Social Media Project captures a moment in time when social media made contact between strangers feel easy and inviting. As online spaces have since become more guarded and curated, the project now reads as a document of a fleeting openness that feels increasingly rare.
