BredaPhoto offers a stage to young photographers. Through the Academy Project, the general public was introduced to the work of dozens of talented photographers from The Netherlands and abroad. During eight months the students worked on their photo series based on the “New Romanticism” theme. Their goal: an exhibition spot during the festival, which could only be obtained after a strict selection process. Fellow students, teachers and the BredaPhoto curators regularly checked and commented on their work. From the 120 students who submitted work, 15 were selected. Among them, the works by Jeroom Vanderbeke, Diego Slosse, Lisa van Casand, Tom Callemin and Tessa Van Thielen that we decided to present here.
Jeroom Vanderbeke (1992) decided to portray the girls he feels attracted to. He hopes to convey his fascination onto the viewer with the series Beauty Is On the side (2014). Vanderbeke: ‘I want to incite the viewers’ fantasy, so that they want to get to know the girl as well’. Vanderbeke is an alumnus of Narafi in Brussels.
During a visit from his Canadian girlfriend, Diego Slosse (1992) kept a visual diary. He called his series Face-Time, after the computer program they use to communicate when they are apart. Slosse is a student at St Lukas in Brussels.
The Netherlands may be a densely populated country; there are nonetheless people who manage to escape our hectic, modern society. They live surrounded by nature. Some of the people Lisa van Casand (1990) portrayed for Second Forest Path Left had lost contact with family and friends. Van Casand studied at the Royal Academy of The Hague.
Tom Callemin’s (1991) photos are theatrically lit against a dark background, creating an ominous atmosphere. Individual photos do not bear names. They all belong to one big series. Newer work is exposed next to old work and vice versa. Callemin studies at the academy of art in Ghent
In the quirky stop-motion film Repeat After Me, Tessa van Thielen (1992) uses a playful method to teach the viewer a series of abstract, natural concepts. She notices that we always speak about nature in a serious tone. ‘Isn’t it better to drop this serious connotation’, she asks. Tessa got her degree at Academy of Art in Antwerp.
