Nick Hannes

Knack

This week Knack publishes my story on poverty and the lack of social housing in Brussels. Alle pictures are made in the same house in the popular quarter Marollen. Inhabitants pay at least 400 euro each month for a dirty appartment, with no decent electricity, heating or bathroom. Pure misery, hidden behind a nice looking facade.

This story is part of the upcoming exhibition “Facing Brussels”, a collective documentary of 11 photographers, showing each their view upon the Brussels population. Later on more about this.

Kilimanjaro

Nomination Dexia Press Awards 2009

My reportage on refugees in Hotel Barry in Brussels, published in Goedele Magazine last winter, has been nominated for the Dexia Press Awards 2009. The two other nominations are for Layla Aerts and Olivier Papegnies. On April 28 the winner will be announced.

Goedele

Got a portfolio in Goedele Magazine this month, showing four previously unpublished photographs I took during my trips through the former USSR in 2007-2008. It’s a funny issue about street photographers operating on beaches, on city squares in front of monuments, palmtrees or fountains. For a little money they make an instant portrait of you. They often use self made decor pieces, plastic flowers or stuffed animals.

The whole series contains about ten pictures. Some of them have been published in my book ‘Red Journey’. Here are some more photographs of photographers at work:

Exhibition at LUX PHOTO GALLERY

From february 12 to march 12, 2010 a selection of photographs from ‘Red Journey’ will be exhibited at Lux Photo Gallery in Amsterdam. Opening will take place on friday february 12 between 5 and 7 pm. Many thanks to Lars Boering and Mirjam Boer for helping me organising this show!

LUX Photo Gallery represents a growing number of international photographers. Its main focus is documentary photography. The Gallery also sell prints, books and special editions to collectors and individuals worldwide via its website. A limited edition of my book ‘Red Journey’, containing this signed print, is being sold for 150 euro.

Students picture themselves on a Red Army tank-monument in Tiraspol, Transnistria

Lux Photo Gallery is situated at Het Sieraad, Postjesweg 1, 1057 DT Amsterdam. See www.luxphotogallery.com

Building a Fair World

Last september the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) commissioned the photographers of the collective Nadaar to report on development projects in 5 different countries across the world. This was the first assignment we obtained with our collective. Dieter Telemans went to Congo, Eric De Mildt to Vietnam, Tim Dirven to Ecuador, Jan Locus to Mali, and I was sent to Morocco, where I visited the dry region of Tiznit, Ouarzazate and the Valley of the Draa. A beautiful region, but not easy to work. The tempo of travel was high and the projects were many. Due to conservatism (and tourism) photographing public life was not easy. People didn’t seem to like the camera. Women hide for me and men often asked for money. I should have had more time to build up a confidential bond with the locals, instead of being driven from one project to another in a four wheel drive. That’s why my visit to Morocco left me with an unsatisfied feeling.

Nevertheless the exhibition, which opened last week, looks really nice. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of BTC, 25 photographs printed on big canvas, were mounted on the fences across the royal palace in the heart of Brussels. And the catalogus, containing portfolios of the five of us, looks like a real book.

The exhibition lasts until february 17. Open day and night, in open air at the Parc Royal/Warandepark.

Foto: Dieter Telemans

Foto: Eric De Mildt

Work In Progress

Exhibition makers “Work In Progress” invited our collective Nadaar for their second show at De Zaal in Ghent. Hurry up and have a look. It lasts only ten days…

“Many photographers share their works-in-progress on the internet. But sometimes photos deserve more attention, a better print, or a less volatile setting. “Work In Progress” wants to give photographers the chance to show their works-in-progress in real life, through short-run and low-profile exhibitions, in a guerilla-style approach, with prints ‘pinned’ to the wall.”
(from the Work In Progress introduction text)

For this occasion, Eric De Mildt shows a reportage about refugees in Belgium. Tim Dirven exhibits previously unpublished Congo pictures. Jan Locus chose his photographs of Zoos around the world. Dieter Telemans shows black and white photos of handicapped children in Burundi. And I decided to exhibit my ongoing series on poverty and housing problems in Brussels.
Thanks to the Royal Academy for Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent to provide the more than 70 prints for the exhibition.

Nadaar at De Zaal
Nonnemeersstraat 26
9000 Gent

From December 11 to December 20, 2009.

Open from 4 to 8 PM on weekdays and from 2 to 6 PM on weekends.

Adedayo Folowosele and Florence Benga from Nigeria live with their three children David, Deborah in an old humid house in Molenbeek. They wait regularisation and can't afford a decent house. (Nick Hannes)

New Scientist

One of the photographs of ‘Red Journey’ has made it into the New Scientist 2010 calendar. The picture shows a herd of camels sheltering under a stranded ship on the former seabed of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. I took this picture in 2007 in the former fishing town of Dzhambul, near Aralsk. I couldn’t believe my eyes the moment I arrived at the scene. I slowly came closer, trying not the scare the animals. I took about ten pictures before they started to get up and move. It was one of those rare lucky days during a long trip through Central Asia. All I had to do was to point the camera and push the button. Reality is often more absurd than my fantasy could imagine. Ships of the Desert

Nadaar site launched

Finally the website of ‘Nadaar’ is online. Nadaar is a Brussels based collective of photographers and photojournalists, founded by Eric De Mildt, Tim Dirven, Jan Locus, Dieter Telemans and myself at the end of 2008.

In 1864 pioneer photographer Félix “Nadar” Tournachon took photographs of Brussels from “Le Géant”, a hot air balloon. Mobile barriers had to be erected to keep the crowd at a safe distance. Since then these barriers are known in Belgium as “Nadaars”. Nowadays they are often used to keep photographers at a “safe” distance.

Our collective Nadaar is in the first place a platform for contemporary documentary photography. Photography is an individual, sometimes even lonesome, occupation. Therefor it’s good to meet collegues, give feedback on each others work, discuss technical issues or new equipment, exchange contacts and have a beer.

Besides our personnal work, we plan to realise a collective project each year. The first one, a documentary about the diversity of the population of Brussels, will be ready in the summer of 2010.

Being “five in one” we hope to have a better position in dealing with bigger assignments. Because there is power in a union…

www.nadaar.com

‘Red Journey’ in Hasselt

Untill January 10, 2010 ‘Red Journey’ can be seen at the Cultuurcentrum in Hasselt. Today was the opening. The spacious gallery allowed me to extend the exhibition to 43 works. That’s half the book. I’m very satisfied with it. Here are some photographs. It’s better to see them live though…
Cultuurcentrum Hasselt