CAPITAL TERRITORY
«In my core I am a landscape painter. When I started making images I was painting outside with my easel in the middle of the night, trying to capture the night in oil-painting. I explore(d) my urban environment by foot or by bike, carefully mapping my battleground. From day one it was all about capturing places that had an atmospherical charge to it. Through a shit-storm of soul-searching and surrealist detours in painting, photography has brought me back to the essence of my love for image making: portraying fragments of (urban) reality, attempting to construct images strong enough to carry the mood I wish to create. I can’t restrict myself to one particular concept, although the vowels and consonants of the landscape’s alphabet dictate my phrases. Moving from Belgium to Australia has made me into a photographer (painter) in exile. As a permanent tourist, an alien, I capture things on this side of the world. I seek refuge in my images, trying to create a sense of belonging for myself. These days my preferred weapon of choice is my trusty Mamiya 7II. The slowness of film is soothing. Future ideas and projects? I would like to get a little book or magazine published featuring some of my pictures. Whenever I got the funds together I will work towards another exhibition, but there is no rush. Future ideas would be to do exactly what I am doing now but better. I hope to stay the exiled, permanent, tourist I am, and build up an archive of holiday-pictures.»
© All copyright remains with photographer Wouter Van De Voorde