LIEVEN HERREMAN: ‘DÉESSES FRAGILES’
A book review by Dieter Debruyne
‘Déesses Fragiles’
is the second book by photographer Lieven Herreman. It is a luxurious edition,
with a cover that has a peach-like feel to it. The title and the photographer’s
name are embossed, and there are five different covers—featuring five different
pictures—from which to choose. The stark contrast in colour between the pink cover
and the black bookblock is reminiscent of the combinations of colour one might
see in lingerie. With its four-color process printing, the black tones are rich
and detailed. Hence, the first prize for best-printed book of 2014 by the
leading magazine of the Belgian graphic scene: ‘Grafisch Nieuws’.
At first glance we see 120 beauties, naked and in black and white. But is this all there is to it? For Lieven Herreman the series is a path leading to a confrontation more than it is a collection of images. We see a standard in terms of position, light, and subject (fragile goddesses). For the photographer it’s not merely about nudity, though; nudity is secondary to the series. The investigation is more important than the result. The image doesn’t serve as evidence of his presence nor as a memory, but investigates the balance between body and mind and creates its own existence. With a further look you know immediately that these images aren’t about sexuality. The naked women stand majestically in the frame. They are grand, monumental, even divine; they are also touching, beautiful, and vulnerable. By erasing the excess—and by that I mean clothing—the women are simply themselves, staring into the eye of the lens, showing us their inner being and inner beauty.
The book opens
with “a window of vulnerability”, sometimes abbreviated to WoV, that is a time
frame within which defence measures are reduced, compromised, or lacking. This
seems like a term from warfare, and the method of photography (800 clicks in
one hour with flash). This stroboscopic attack almost hypnotizes the women, and
in this way they completely forget about their appearance. Stripped from them are
the defence mechanisms that everyone uses in the outer world, and to define
themselves. They are able to be wounded and are open for attack.
In his first book,
‘Lymphoma’, Lieven Herreman shows the duality between love and death, a new
passionate love and a life-threatening cancer. In ‘Déesses Fragiles’ we see
duality again. It’s not specifically about fragility or goddesses, but about both
simultaneously; it’s about decoupling the body from the mind, and the process
of searching, in itself, was more important than the finding.