Cao Zhen

    caozhen0806@126.com

    SIX talented and influential photographers from Belgium are showcasing their contemporary photographic works at B10 in OCT-LOFT.

    Curated by Belgian artist Dries Roelens, the exhibition, titled “Public/Private,” features photographers Lara Gasparotto, Marine Dricot, Thomas Sweertvaegher, Vincent Delbrouck, Bert Danckaert and Els Vanden Meersch. The works look at the borderline between the outer world and intimate private space.

    “The theme of the exhibition is based on the contrast between public and private life,” said Roelens who curated “Depth of Field,” a similar Belgian photography exhibition in Guangzhou and Beijing in 2011. “We all play our social roles and adapt ourselves to act professionally in the outer world, while we are ourselves when we are with friends and close ones. We act differently outside than we do in our living rooms.”

    He believes that in the era of globalization and migration, public space is more and more standardized and under pressure from global models. “The exhibition explores the connection between people and places and questions how people work on the edge between public and private worlds,” added Roelens.

    Gasparotto may be the most straightforward among the six artists, and her images are raw and full of color. She documents the daily lives of her friends in a seemingly simple and intimate manner, displaying a new generation of young people full of dreams and desire. As a young photographer, Gasparotto shows spontaneity, with seductive snapshots that lets viewers peep into an intimate punk style of youthful life.

    Gasparotto graduated from the Saint-Luc Ecole Superieure des Arts in her hometown of Liege, Belgium. She initially uploaded these images on her Tumblr profile, but is now also using them to compile jigsaw collages on the walls of art galleries. In her works, she shows viewers how a group of young people become adults or how old friends all go their own ways but nevertheless stay connected. She said her works are inspired mainly by oil paintings, especially those from Flemish artworks and from the Renaissance.

    “I’m interested in revealing my dreams, feelings and nostalgia through evocative pictures of my generation. I took the pictures spontaneously during trips or hanging around in my city. I like the contrast between the people and the places, and I like the way sense and meaning appear through associations,” said Gasparotto.

    Similar to Gasparotto, young photographer Sweertvaegher also shows intimate pictures of his friends and relatives, but all of his photos share the theme of skating. Sweertvaegher is a skater and he portrays the open space of the subculture and their nightlife through his black-and-white photos. His images are ambiguous, poetic and sometimes dreamlike. Some portraits are powerful and passionate, such as a young man with a bruised eye, skaters trashing their hotel room, punk rock bands screaming on stage and urban skaters flying through the air. Intense and violent images coexist with aesthetic and geometric compositions.

    The contrast between photographic images from the outside world and the individualistic perspective runs through the exhibition. Photographer Danckaert and Delbrouck shoot ordinary public spaces where people spend much time yet never noticing its presence.

    Danckaert’s images are unremarkable empty sidewalks, walls and streets. Since the mid-1990s, he has showcased his work in several solo and group exhibitions in Belgium and abroad. Besides his artistic pursuits, Danckaert teaches photography and photographic history at the Academy of Antwerp in Belgium. In 2006, he started working on a series entitled “Simple Present,” taking street photos in various international cities like Beijing, Cape Town, Havana, Paris and Antwerp. He believes that places can define human beings.

    “His works have intercultural understanding, something that manages not to be trapped in the easy images of the exotic-typical, but brings us back to where things begin and end: in real human life,” said curator Roelens.

    Delbrouck turned the camera on his life and loves in the Cuban city of Havana and in the Himalayas in Nepal. In his photos, he embraces the nature of Himalayas with pure empathy. He combines realistic content with a colorful and dreamy atmosphere, producing lasting impressions of the places explored and invites viewers to breathe more deeply, into the wildness of our own narratives.

    Dates: Until Nov. 30

    Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Mondays

    Venue: B10, North Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意文化园北区B10)

    Metro: Luobao Line, Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A