Joe English

The family archive has proven to be a great source of inspiration. Two photography projects sprouted from the historical research: ‘Met Kop en Schouders‘ is an exhibition commissioned by ADVN to accompany the research, publication and database about ‘Heldenhulde‘. English designed the headstones this organisation provided during WW1. In ‘Mystic Land‘ I went on a […]

93ste IJzerbedevaart

Er zijn ongetwijfeld mensen die helemaal niet weten wat ik in’t dagelijks leven allemaal doe, laat staan dat ik bezig ben met zoiets archaïsch als een IJzerbedevaart. ’t is simpel: Het is mijn familiaal erfgoed, omdat ze mijn overgrootvader als eerste symbool van die ontvoogdingsstrijd hebben gekozen. Ik ben daardoor zo’n beetje een specialist in […]

The archive of untold stories

I had the pleasure of being invited for a residency of two weeks at ZSenne Art Lab. The intention was to research and experiment with different forms of presentation, looking for solutions to tell stories with pictures and objects in a different and personal way. I came up with the archive as a form of […]

Expo: art to propaganda

Following my own expo Mystisch Land, Museum aan de IJzer set up an expo: “Joe English, from inspiring art to propaganda”. It shows the art of Joe English during WW1 and the evolution of that body of work towards the flemish nationalist propaganda of the interbellum. I designed the info-posters and helped Peter Verplancke, the […]

Henry English

The biography of my great-great-grandfather Henry English, born in Waterford, Ireland in 1853. Orphaned by the potato famine, he arrived in Bruges at the age of 10, where he got an education as a gold embroider and married Marie Dinnewet, his drawing teacher’s daughter. I made the layout and all graphical works for the 78-page […]

Mystisch Land

In 2016 I started researching the whereabouts of Joe English during WW1 and consequently visited all these places. His get-away from the besieged city of Antwerp towards the Belgian coast eventually bringing him to Calais was one of the trips I attempted to do as he did, on foot. I described the research and the […]

Woordfront

In 2015 GoneWest engaged us as directors for the event ‘Woordfront’ commemorating the first gas-attacks of WW1. In Tielt, the military headquarter-city of the German army from where the attacks were ordered, we setup four groups of volunteers that marched towards the central square. During the procession each group declamated a poem, one for each […]

Lichtfront

‘Lichtfront’ was an event that kicked off four years of WW1-commemorations in the province of West-Flanders. Along the 84km frontline from Nieuwpoort to Ploegsteert 8400 people lined up baring torches. Fire artworks by ‘De Vuurmeesters’ were lit on 9 locations along the line. It was broadcasted live on national television and EBU. Visual Kitchen got […]