"Only by wandering do you get to know a city, a country, a continent."
The exhibition of Michiel Hendryckx at the FoMu is the result of three years of travelling through Europe. He undertook the journey on his own mostly by car and on foot, going back to places he had discovered earlier and discovering new places.
All of the photos in the exhibition are black and white, they were taken with a Nikon camera, he used a Nikon D200, D300, D700 and most of the photos were taken with a 50mm lens. He used this kind of lens because it’s closest to representing reality and also tells something about the way a photographer sees his subject.
Although he likes the Fomu, what he doesn’t like is the big open space it provides, he prefers to show his photos on a small format, because he believes that the format can sometimes take away from the photo itself, therefore the room in which his photos are presented was made smaller by building several smaller rooms in the middle of the exhibition room. The rooms were painted in colours that are based on Goethe colour theory. By creating these smaller rooms he hopes to create a more intimate atmosphere, which suit his photos more then a large room could ever do.
I personally feel that by taking a subject such as a daily life in Europe, he was able to create very intimate portraits, true to the place where they were taken. He explained something about the several layers that are present in a photo he took in Norway. The photo is of a mother and her daughters celebrating their national holiday. One layer he described was the very profound pride these people carry for their country and how it was very honest and beautiful in a way.
He also talked about his own love for his country, like the love you feel for a child and how he loves the strange and quirky things that make our country unique.
One of the photos he took was of a man he met in Settle, England. Hendryckx was fascinated by the tattoos he had on his back. He asked the man’s permission to take a photo of his back, assured him that no one would recognize him, to which the man agreed. The man became a tad bit uneasy when he noticed that Hendryckx wasn’t just an amateur photographer. After taking the photo, Hendryckx wanted to know more about the tattoos and their meaning, the man responded by telling Hendryckx that he was a soldier, but refused to divulge on the origin of the tattoos. The photographer decided not to push the matter, afraid that he might lose the photo. Feeling somewhat unsatisfied that he didn’t know more, he decided to look the names up, he found out that they are all names of places. Probably the names of places the soldier was stationed, he didn’t find out much about the dates, but after asking a friend, their most likely conclusion was that the tattoos were hunting trophies, although not everyone has such a horrid view on it. When asked what some of the students thought, most went in a complete different direction, suggestion that he might have lost a friend in battle that day, in the end none of us really know and in a way that makes the photo even more interesting.
All in all it’s a beautiful exhibition and if you’re in the neighbourhood you should definitely visit. The exhibition is running till 10.01.10 at the Fomu.
All of the photos in the exhibition are black and white, they were taken with a Nikon camera, he used a Nikon D200, D300, D700 and most of the photos were taken with a 50mm lens. He used this kind of lens because it’s closest to representing reality and also tells something about the way a photographer sees his subject.
Although he likes the Fomu, what he doesn’t like is the big open space it provides, he prefers to show his photos on a small format, because he believes that the format can sometimes take away from the photo itself, therefore the room in which his photos are presented was made smaller by building several smaller rooms in the middle of the exhibition room. The rooms were painted in colours that are based on Goethe colour theory. By creating these smaller rooms he hopes to create a more intimate atmosphere, which suit his photos more then a large room could ever do.
I personally feel that by taking a subject such as a daily life in Europe, he was able to create very intimate portraits, true to the place where they were taken. He explained something about the several layers that are present in a photo he took in Norway. The photo is of a mother and her daughters celebrating their national holiday. One layer he described was the very profound pride these people carry for their country and how it was very honest and beautiful in a way.
He also talked about his own love for his country, like the love you feel for a child and how he loves the strange and quirky things that make our country unique.
One of the photos he took was of a man he met in Settle, England. Hendryckx was fascinated by the tattoos he had on his back. He asked the man’s permission to take a photo of his back, assured him that no one would recognize him, to which the man agreed. The man became a tad bit uneasy when he noticed that Hendryckx wasn’t just an amateur photographer. After taking the photo, Hendryckx wanted to know more about the tattoos and their meaning, the man responded by telling Hendryckx that he was a soldier, but refused to divulge on the origin of the tattoos. The photographer decided not to push the matter, afraid that he might lose the photo. Feeling somewhat unsatisfied that he didn’t know more, he decided to look the names up, he found out that they are all names of places. Probably the names of places the soldier was stationed, he didn’t find out much about the dates, but after asking a friend, their most likely conclusion was that the tattoos were hunting trophies, although not everyone has such a horrid view on it. When asked what some of the students thought, most went in a complete different direction, suggestion that he might have lost a friend in battle that day, in the end none of us really know and in a way that makes the photo even more interesting.
All in all it’s a beautiful exhibition and if you’re in the neighbourhood you should definitely visit. The exhibition is running till 10.01.10 at the Fomu.
Love,
Jules
Listening to: Kasabian
Jules
Listening to: Kasabian
