Being young in a time of expectations
Hustling, hustling, hustling. You're only young once. You have to build a career, save, travel, and find the love of your life. At the same time, uncertainty is growing: homes are unaffordable, the world is under pressure, and social media is constantly driving comparison. Worldviews are shifting, while the pressure to perform increases.
In HUSTLE, Stijn de Vries captures this tension in raw, analog photography. His images are unpolished and direct. In a time when perfection is often the norm, he consciously chooses the unedited. The photos show a generation that grew up with the internet, but romanticizes analog life and searches for authenticity.
XL photography in public spaces
The images are presented as double-sided XL banners in the covered passageway of De Hallen. This scale and setting bring vulnerable moments into the daily lives of visitors. Everyone walking through De Hallen is invited to pause and reflect on the themes of young adulthood and mental health.
About Stijn de Vries
Stijn de Vries (born 1998, Almelo) is a photographer, presenter, writer, and actor. He has presented on Spuiten en Slikken and RTL, writes for Vogue and LINDA, and has been taking photographs since he was eighteen. In 2024, he debuted with the novel "Als de zon valt" (When the Sun Falls). He also surprised everyone with his role in "Wie is de Mol?" (Who is the Mole?). In 2025, he published his photo book "Hustle," which challenges the reader to cut up the book, color it in, and make it his own. He is currently working on a new novel.
