Art&Culture
Nomad
Vincent Delbrouck is a photographer, but he may as well be a philosopher, a nomad, a monk. We talk to Vincent about life, travelling, and his series ‘Ten Dogs.’
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Nomad
Vincent Delbrouck is a photographer, but he may as well be a philosopher, a nomad, a monk. His work is strongly influenced by travel and living within other cultures, by searching for meaning both inside and outside his own head. For Vincent, photography is akin to the practise of meditation. We talk to Vincent about life, travelling, and his series Ten Dogs.
How did Ten Dogs happen?
I shot Ten Dogs whilst working on the project As dust alights in Nepal and India. I had already taken one image of a dog in Mexico in 2009 which I really loved and those new images came quite naturally. It was a way to ‘train’ my eye, to focus on something within the city. There are plenty of nice dogs in the streets of Kathmandu and Leh.
In your photography there’s a recurring theme of sequence, rhythm, repetition. What are you exploring?
Interconnections between elements, I guess. Repetition comes from the love I have for certain things: animals, plants, persons. I try to create a rhythm of colours and elements with the material I collect, in books, installations, etc. It’s my way of sharing the flow of energy I always find in life.
Many of your shots have a poetic, melancholic quality. How does your mood influence your work?
It is difficult to explain how it is influencing the work, but it is there, yes. Ever-changing moods, emotions, life and lights going here and there, like breathing in every direction. I am trying to find more peace with all that now, trying to control and not control at the same time. Not to be so nervous and chaotic, a way to stay open and wait for the moment new stuff is coming to me. It can create anxiety of course, but at the same time this is just the way I work, I wouldn’t be happy planning every detail in my head before working on a project.
Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move”.
I really like it. This is the perfect introduction to my work. Travelling is a process, not a direction with a documentary project as justification, etc. I need to move to live, and photography is just coming with movement, always giving me this magic illusion to be closer and closer to what I am trying to find, from what I love. It’s quite close to the ‘dharma’ process (in Buddhism), if I may say.
What is your fondest memory from travelling?
Going to the beach at Playa del Este near Havana with Cuban friends, altogether in the same car, on a Sunday afternoon. All mixed with memories from Reinaldo Arenas’s book Otra vez el mar and Carne de perro, written by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (my favorite book). It’s a strong memory. Not really about the beach, more about something coming form the surrounds of the beach: the parking lot, the sandwich we eat there, the cafeteria, the broken car, the smell of salt, the buildings on the road, moving altogether, kids and parents and cousins. With another layer of loneliness and lost love.
What or when do you feel most comfortable photographing?
When I feel free, not thinking too much about daily life, money, work, etc. And in nature. When I can feel the ‘flow of creation’, the moment to let it go and express it with photography. Travelling can provoke that, but it is more about giving yourself permission to do it. When you are travelling, you don’t need to pretend to be responsible of your life in a society where people are running all the time.
And finally, do you have a dog?
I don’t have a dog but recently I was thinking about getting one. It’s true. But I would prefer to have a falcon.
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Photography by Vincent Delbrouk
vincentdelbrouck.be
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