Artist presentation

Hugo Kevelaer

My Hugo Kevelaer is a Belgian photographer living in Brussels. His work is in the field of documentary and more precisely in social documentary. He is a portrait painter, which means that when a face attracts his attention in an inspiring place, he creates an image. He seeks to create a relationship between the model and the photographer in order to capture sincerity. Humans and those around them are at the center of his work. Most of these projects are carried out on a long-term basis because it requires reflection and time. This is his working method. In 2022, he finishes his personal project: Celiac. Then, he continued traveling to Europe looking for a photographic subject. It was during a road trip in Romania that he felt so inspired that he decided to make a project out of it. Currently, he has started a project on youth. Young people removed from their parents and placed in foster care.

Artist statement

Sillage is a photographic project that sheds light on children who have been separated from their families and placed in homes following a judicial decision. Throughout this year, I visited several homes across French-speaking Belgium to meet these children and build a relationship of trust. This documentary work quickly proved to be complex, especially since the children’s anonymity had to be fully preserved. I addressed this challenge by inviting the children to create masks that would both conceal and reveal them. This tool, used for thousands of years, allows the children to express themselves and show the world who they are.

My photographic series presents a blend of opposing emotions: poetry confronts confinement, gentleness meets solitude, and light contrasts with darkness.