Bieke Depoorter
Coincidental encounters are the starting point for many of the works of photo artist Bieke Depoorter. Personal relationships with the people featured in her photographs, which were developed over the course of several years, significantly influence Depoorter’s artistic practice. Depoorter challenges the medium of photography while blurring the traditional relationship between photographer and subject. The stories of her protagonists reflect topics such as social stigma, breaking taboos, and the inclusion of people who are often overlooked in society.
In Michael, Depoorter examines the life and the disappearance of a man she met on the streets of Portland in 2015. He gave her three suitcases full of personal items, sketchbooks, and essays, providing her with an intimate view of his feelings and thoughts. Working with the precision of a detective, Depoorter tries to track Michael down and understand his life. In addition to documenting his existence, she immerses herself in his life, increasingly imitating his way of thinking and his actions, which to outsiders may seem quite erratic or odd. At what point does a photographic search for traces turn into an obsession? Why do we accept the disappearance of those people who particularly warrant protection?
C/O Berlin presents this universal work by the Magnum photographer, consisting of installations, wall pieces, projections and photographs, in Bieke Depoorter . A Chance Encounter. This is the first major solo exhibition to feature the artist in Berlin. Curated by Felix Hoffmann, C/O Berlin Foundation.
Bieke Depoorter (b. 1986 in Kortrijk, Belgium) received a master’s degree in photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in 2009. Three years later, at the age of twenty-five, she was nominated to become a member of the photo cooperative Magnum Photos; she became a full member in 2016. Depoorter has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Magnum Expression Award, the Larry Sultan Award, and the Prix Levallois. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at renowned art institutions around the world including the Kunsthalle Rotterdam in 2009, the Fotomuseum Antwerpen (FOMU) and the Fotomuseum Den Haag in The Hague in 2018, and the Fotomuseum Winterthur in 2019. Over the past years she has published five books: Ou Menya, I am About to Call it a Day, As it May Be, und Sète#15.
