Bieke Depoorter

Bieke Depoorter

Bieke Depoorter(BE, °1986) joined the renowned photography agency Magnum Photos in 2012. She already had an impressive career behind her at a young age. In her first solo exhibition for FOMU, Depoorter reveals a different side of herself: an artist at a turning point in her career. She questions her position as an image-maker and outsider in five separate projects, some of which are still ongoing.

While the night and moments when no one else seems to be looking continue to intrigue her, collaboration and dialogue now take centre stage. After years of photographing in Egypt, she returned with a first version of the book, to ask others to write directly onto her photographs. In As It May Be (2017), a dialogue commences between Egyptians and a voice is also given to people who would not otherwise have allowed themselves to be photographed. With the multimedia installation Sète#15 (2015) and the short film Dvalemodus (2017), Depoorter began to conceive her subjects as actors, projecting her own narratives onto factual environments.

Two projects in progress will also be shown at FOMU. Agata (2017-…) is a project in collaboration with a young woman whom Depoorter met in Paris. Both the photographer and the subject become contributors in the narrative. With Michael (2015-…), Depoorter almost finds herself in the role of detective in search of the life story of a man from Portland, Oregon. Following a brief but intense encounter, Depoorter received three suitcases full of collages and scraps of writing, after which the man disappeared without a trace.

Artists: Bieke Depoorter

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