Sibir

2010-02-07

Debby Huysmans shows a photographic research on forgotten and isolated communities in Siberia. The two longest rivers of Siberia, the Yenisey and Lena, guided the photographer through the desolated area in search of individuals who experience this area as their biotope and the marks they leave in the landscape that surrounds them. Remainders of dreams of the past and signs of hope for the future appear through the daily environment.

Huysmans is fascinated by the forgotten and isolated areas left behind due to the fall of communism. The characters seem to live in an old world, in impoverished conditions. Nothing much seems to happen, the pace of life is slow and the images are full of silence. They often expose undefined, lost spaces nobody seems to notice anymore.

With the serials Elementarz (Poland 2003), Last Stop before Europa (Belgium 2005) and In a Valley (Romania 2007) Debby Huysmans already made a photographic study of forgotten communities along the edges of western European culture.

Team members

Debby Huysmans

Debby Huysmans studied photography at the Academy in Ghent. In 2003 she graduated and received the artistic prize Horlait Dapsens. She made several photo serials in Poland, Romania, Belgium and Russia. Her work has been shown in several domestic and foreign exhibitions.

Supported

A working grant of € 4.688 allocated on 08/12/2008.

FPD/2008/683

Grant

Pascal Decroos Fund

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