Sybren Vanoverberghe
Sybren Vanoverberghe was born in 1996 in Kortrijk, Belgium. He lives and works in Otegem, Belgium. Vanoverberghe mainly works with the photographic medium but also with found materials he collected at scrapyards. The work of Vanoverberghe shows the landscape and its remnants in a constant state of change. The correlation between place and time is shown in works where history, nature and heritage collide. The photographs of Vanoverberghe were taken both at places with historical importance and at industrial or ordinary sites. His work confronts presets of existing structures with what could be seen as artefacts of the future. Vanoverberghe’s works are highly anachronistic, certain images, for example, represent a past that has never existed.
In his books, Vanoverberghe often works around the cyclical aspect of particular sites that are no longer geographically situated. The work poses hypothetical questions going back and forth in time in an equal measure. When, for instance, can an image be considered a document of the past and when can it be seen as a prophecy for the future? There is a constant tension between accepting images as documents of the past and denying those which appear to be prophecies for the future.
Vanoverberghe received his master’s degree from KASK, Ghent (BE) in 2019. His works are published in books such as 2099 (2018), Conference of the Birds (2019) and 1099 (2020) by publishing house APE (Art Paper Editions). Vanoverberghe had his first solo exhibtion at Stieglitz19, Antwerp (BE) (2018 & 2019) and a third one at Deweer Gallery, Otegem (BE) (2020). His works were shown at the Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam (NL) (2019) and were part of the duo exhibition The Flower and the Vessel with Thomas Vandenberghe at De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL) (2020). Vanoverberghe participated in various group exhibitions including: To Infinity and Beyond at Breda Photo, Breda (NL); ’33 days off’ at Fomu, Antwerp (BE), Staycation at Barbé Urbain, Ghent (BE) and showed his series Conference of the Birds at the Cultural Centre, Yangzhou (CN). He collaborated with Belgian fashion brand Ann Demeulemeester (2018) and Belgian music band Whispering Sons (2020). His works have been published on various platforms such as American Suburb X, Photoworks UK, de Volkskrant, paper Journal, Gup Magazine and the PHmuseum. In addition to his own practice, Vanoverberghe is the co-curater and co-founder of NO/Gallery, Ghent (BE) and in 2021 he will launch Backyard, a new exhibition platform for young artists in collaboration with Deweer Gallery Estate.
In 2021, Vanoverberghe will particpate in Wake Up Call, a show curated by Luk Lambrecht, Lieze Eneman & Gert Robijns with artworks from the collection Tanguy & Bieke Vanquickenborne at Platform6a, Otegem (BE). In December 2021, he will present his first solo exhibition at KETELEER GALLERY.
Image: Wave of Stone, 2020, Archival pigment print, 98 x 78,4 cm, Ed. 3 + 1 AP
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