PHOTOGRAPHY
“Je t’aime” Party
- The Cello Maker
Cepi and Stora Enso
Cohabs
A Daily Perspective
TABAS
Info
As a child, I spent every summer vacation by a pond, always the same one. surrounded by a forest. You couldn't see it from the road uphill, so tall and dense were the trees. Hours spent fishing, catching frogs, building huts, ransack the nettles with sticks, catch flies and butterflies, and much more.... On rainy days, near the water, I would seek shelter under the dense foliage of trees. Sitting in a crouched position, with my chin resting on my knees and my bum perched on my heels to avoid getting wet. Arms around my legs, trapping the warmth of my belly, I found myself captivated by the enchanting aroma of silt and the earthy scent of decaying wood. The dull sound of raindrops on the foliage intoxicated me; I truly felt sheltered, far from home. Since then, I have remained in love with these bodies of water; they are always full of life and surprises.
Recently, during a walk with friends, I was surprised by one of these basins in the region of Rotselaar. Not quite like the one I knew, sadder, less wild, ordinary. But I saw in it a kind of tranquility. Surrounding the water was a reconstituted nature.
Fishermen, surfers, a few hidden caravans, a deer farm, and so on...It was not so far from home. So it didn't take me long to find my way there with my old and cumbersome photographic equipment: an 8x10 technical camera. I needed to rediscover some slowness amidst a stressful and completely digitalized professional life. Through my visits and encounters over time, I learned that the pond was the result of building a highway. The need for sand for the construction of Highway A2 connecting Leuven to Lummen had left a scar in this wooded region. A rift that rapidly filled with water. Pleistocene bones began to appear trapped in dredger filters. Some amateur archaeologists were conducting excavations at night; they brought back some beautiful pieces. Ultimately, regardless of its historical aspect, it appeared to me that a highway project—symbolizing modernity, speed, and incessant noise—could generate its complete opposite: antiquity, calmness, and silence.