Laura Van Severen
Invisible Walls
Laura's photographic work Invisible Walls is named after the lost 1958 documentary of the same name about the Zwankendam glass factory. She combines images of the architecture, details from the surroundings, portraits of (former) factory employees and their stories into collages that are appropriately displayed on glass plates. In this way, Laura searches for patterns in the environment that arose from the presence of the glass factory. Invisible Walls explores the link between Zwankendamme and glass, between people and their environment, and how a village takes shape through the activity that takes place there.
Laura Van Severen on the neighbourhood, her creative process, and the guided tour she will give of her work.
On my first visit, I didn't immediately feel a connection with Zwankendamme. I needed a story that would allow me to connect with the people. In the online image bank of the Bruges city archives, I found a wealth of material about Zwankendamme. There, a rich history unfolded that inspired me enormously: with the establishment of the glass factory in 1925, Zwankendamme grew into a real village. That became my angle.
The photographic work I present connects various elements from the neighbourhood. The patterns in the facades of the cité are built according to a mirror image. Later, we see that in order to ensure the survival of both the factory and employment, glass production was discontinued in the late 1970s in order to switch to silvering imported glass into mirrors. Everything seems similar, but at the same time it is completely different. The stories of the (former) employees also show these apparent similarities.
Zwankendamme is the glass factory and vice versa. For many residents, their private lives and work were closely linked by the – literally – short distance between the two. With my photographs, I try to evoke wonder about what they have known all their lives. Do they recognise themselves and their village in my photographs? What do the image collages evoke?
BIO
Laura Van Severen obtained her master's degree in photography at the KASK School of Arts in Ghent. In her work, she explores the relationship between humans and their environment. How we appropriate places, how we shape them and how we, in turn, are shaped by our surroundings. This also brings to the fore current issues surrounding sustainability, economics and politics. For example, with Strata, she conducted a photographic study of how landfills leave a lasting mark on the natural landscape. For her most recent project, El camp d'elles, she collaborated with writer Mònica Pagès to document the lives of the female inhabitants of a Catalan mountain village.
Credits
Thanks to Wilfried, Lena, Ronny, Gregory, Patrice, Frans & Francine, Jan, Lut, Hedwig, Arne and Ulrike for sharing their time and stories with me; to all the neighbours of the cité for allowing their facades to be immortalised and for moving their cars for this purpose; Chris, Christophe and the glass factory for their help with the project; and the image bank of the Bruges city archives for the inspiration.