Jan Kempenaers: Hoboken

Abstract

Over a period of one year, Jan Kempenaers photographed the woods in the Hobokense Polder, itself the result of a botched urban development project and a former dumping ground for excess soil and toxic waste. Located in a suburb of Antwerp, the area was transformed into a nature reserve two decades ago. It is a new, modern landscape, the result of human intervention left to its own "natural" growth. The book is composed in sections (archive, selection, details), repeating image sequences that progress in a tendency towards abstraction. An essay on landscape photography by Steven Humblet adds insight to the approach Kempenaers uses to tackle this complex subject.