BRIGHTSIDE

We are not at ease in the world of Jimmy Kets. He does not offer us a comfortable seat to sit in cozily.

Kets does not photograph languorous nudes, a recognizable, decaying Belgium, or portraits of the rich and powerful. He does not take reassuring photos, nor ‘beautiful’ photos in the classical sense of the word.

Instead, he shows a world where people are lost. Yet, Kets’ world is not a malevolent universe full of distant wars or nearby misery; he rather assembles fragments of a slightly bewildering but always recognizable reality.

Jimmy Kets observes the world with a gaze full of wonder and disbelief. His photos touch and unsettle us.

Jimmy Kets depicts the human who is searching – although that description is too active. The person he captures is not ‘searching’. He or she is already somewhere, often in places specifically designed to offer carefreeness, happiness, even satisfaction: Disney World, vacation paradises, amusement parks, a zoo, parties, and erotic fairs. Also a city, Las Vegas, but that is a large amusement park in itself.

Yet, amidst that clichéd reality of prepackaged consumer joy, the individual wanders helplessly. He or she is alone. Lonely in a cardboard world. Anonymous in an anonymous space. With an open mind, the photographer captures ‘la condition humaine’.

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Erik Rinckhout

 

Year of publication 2009 - Sold out