Photographic residency at Valparaiso
“Today I am back in Valparaíso with the same spirit of discovery. I consider myself as much a researcher as a photographer,” says Alexandre Christiaens, who arrived in Chile on Wednesday 17 March from Belgium to begin his artistic residency in Valparaíso and Antofagasta, as part of the FIFV and SACO festivals.
“In Valparaíso and other places, my photographic work is the formal extension of the experience of being in the world. To be in motion on land and sea is for me to experience the epic dimension of existence: to dive into the heart of the sublime, to feel the organic thickness of the living, to go out and meet the other in his most unexpected forms. This is what makes me go forward in life. This is what I love and what delights me, in the primary sense of the word,” he says.
Last October, Alexandre and Carla Yovane led the virtual workshop “Exploring a collective synergy” as part of the 2020 VIFF. This time, the author will offer a -also virtual- portfolio viewing session to 10 photographers and photographers.
“I was finally able to start my residency, to follow up on this wonderful and happy invitation from FIFV. Despite the global problems this pandemic is causing us, what makes me happiest is not knowing what I will find, or what I will be able to achieve. I bring with me my tools, my experiences and a deep desire to know and enter the landscape,” he concludes.
