| When I was 12 years old, I discovered photography at a workshop in school. My interest in this medium was also encouraged by the discovery of photographic material I found in my attic—material which belonged to my grandfather who died in Africa. My father, without any knowledge in this field, helped me to progress in this passion by offering me two cameras, a Canon FX and Canon EOS. I was influenced by masters in the art of photography, such as JL Sieff, Helmut Newton, Jonvelle and, more recently, Nad Iksodas, Bram Blondeel, Pascal Enoux and Stefan de Lay. |  |
Phillipe Soupart
When I was 12 years old, I discovered photography at a workshop in school. My interest in this medium was also encouraged by the discovery of photographic material I found in my attic—material which belonged to my grandfather who died in Africa. My father, without any knowledge in this field, helped me to progress in this passion by offering me two cameras, a Canon FX and Canon EOS.
I was influenced by masters in the art of photography, such as JL Sieff, Helmut Newton, Jonvelle and, more recently, Nad Iksodas, Bram Blondeel, Pascal Enoux and Stefan de Lay. Impressed and touched by the quality of the light and the graphics I discovered in their works, I specifically fell in love with female charms and feminine curves.
During my 30s, I studied photography at the evening school in Brussels City Photography from 2003 through 2006. In 2005, and with some photographer friends, I started an association for novice photographers in Brussels. Today, I continue searching and innovating in new projects in order to feed my passion.
My work consists of serial images that are linked by the atmosphere as well as nude bodies with white masks. These ambiguous scenes, paired with the masks my models wear, create an art form that is incredibly impersonal. I seek out abandoned industrial places to carry out my image; machine, mines and castles are often the foundations of my photographs. I take the atmosphere of the places themselves as a starting point from which to begin to create my series of nudes. Recently, I found a group of urban explorers who allowed me to discover these abandoned places—places filled with the past and with atmospheres that feel particularly “old.” These are elements that are favourable to my creations.
My collaboration with my favourite model led to the birth of my first series, "Valdor a Phantom in Respite," which was realised in an old hospital built 1903, but which was later abandoned, in 1975.
From a meeting with a friend, the series "Cheratte Does Not Die" was born. The model, like all women I encounter, inspired my artistic work and the results are visible in this photography series. Cheratte happens to be an old coalmine in Belgium, which ultimately closed down in 1973, and an exceptional environment still lingers there. Today, Cheratte is a mine that was left to die—one given up by the men who used to work there. It is for this reason that I placed a woman in this setting. The idea is that she is lost in her past as well as that of the coalmine. Lonely and exposed, she dies of the absence of men. In my version of the story, this woman was the reason that hundreds of men departed the mine. In my conception of it, too, she has remained here to decay for more than 30 years.
I am currently working on three other projects that should be concluded in one to two years. An exposure of my work should be concretized in two years in Brussels and perhaps in New York.
