ANTWERP.- Harry Gruyaert (Antwerp, °1941) is one of the most well-known photographers in Belgium. A pioneer of colour photography, Gruyaert has been a distinguished member of the renowned photography agency Magnum since 1982.
The FOMU retrospective presents a broad overview of his work and shines a light on some of its more surprising aspects.
Gruyaert’s iconic images are the focal point of the exhibition. Each photograph reveals his unique universe, constructed from a flawless feeling for colour, light and composition. Gruyaert travels the world in a single-minded quest for the beauty of the everyday.
The photographer’s poetic language is very much in evidence in three series: Rivages (2003), which incorporates images of the horizon and the sea; the recent publication East West (2017), which opposes the colour palettes of Moscow in 1989 and Las Vegas and Los Angeles in 1981; and the conceptual TV Shots (1974), which is considered by Gruyaert himself as his most journalistic piece of work, displayed at FOMU in the form of a video installation.
Gruyaert’s trademark is his masterful use of colour photography and his beloved Kodachrome film. But the FOMU exhibition also shows his versatility and focuses on elements of his career that are relatively unknown: early black-and-white work, a fashion campaign for Hermès, covers for the Penguin pocket editions of Georges Simenon, a homage to filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, family photos and a diverse selection of commissioned work.
Harry Gruyaert – Retrospective offers a comprehensive summary of an acclaimed career. It presents a poetic narrative, in which colour and light play the leading roles and photography does what it does best: creating “the conditions for a miracle”.
Curators: Rein Deslé and Joachim Naudts
Monsanto®: A Photographic Investigation – Mathieu Asselin 09.03.2018 – 10.06.2018
The multinational Monsanto® has been causing controversy for many years. Today, the biotechnology company is best known as the market leader in genetically modified seeds and the much-discussed herbicide Roundup. Mathieu Asselin (FR, °1973) has been investigating the impact of Monsanto®’s activities on people and nature for over five years.
He has photographed dumpsites in the United States, portrayed Vietnamese and American victims of the defoliant Agent Orange and exposes lobbying practices. Asselin employs photographs, advertisements, news items and many other resources to provide a clear, nuanced picture of the company’s historical behaviour - in the hope that this will give us an idea of what to expect in the future.
In 2017, the acquisition of Monsanto® by the German chemical company Bayer was announced. To date, the European Commission has not approved this takeover. Environmental organizations, scientists and human rights organizations warn of the farreaching effects of such a monstrous merger for agriculture in the world, since “who controls food controls the people” (Henry Kissinger).
The publication Monsanto®: A Photographic Investigation (Acts Sud / Kehrer Verlag) was awarded the Aperture First PhotoBook Award last year and has been nominated for the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2018.
The exhibition is a collaboration with Les Rencontres d’Arles.
Curators: Rein Deslé and Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo
