ISABELLE PATEER
‘Unsettled’
Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne
1.11.2013 - 1.12.2013
The project ‘Unsettled’ focuses in a metaphoric way on the worldwide phenomenon of industrial expansion and its consequences, shown in the study of the Belgian village Doel and the surrounding polder area. The place is threatened by vast expansions of the port of Antwerp and related nature compensation plans, which install an artificial contrast between nature and culture. In this series, this actual case is approached and questioned in an indirect way, exceeding a pure documentary approach. It shows portraits of young inhabitants alternated by landscapes which bare witness to the transformed state of the area. Leaving a sourish taste by contrasting the young with the local changes, they symbolise the international tendency of global political and economic shifts and the way they manifest themselves to the people and their surroundings.
Isabelle Pateer lives and works in The Netherlands and Belgium. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, including Copenhagen Photo Festival, Photofusion Gallery London, Photo Ireland Festival, Botanique gallery Brussels, Daegu Photo Biennale, Korea and Fotofestiwal Lodz, where Isabelle was a finalist for the Grand Prix. The series “Unsettled” has been awarded, published and exhibited internationally since 2008 and received a project grant from the Dutch ‘Anna Cornelis foundation’ in 2010. Isabelle has also been published in The New York Times Magazine, Inge Morath Magazine, Rearview mirror, The Irish Times, dienacht magazine, GUP magazine, and many more.