Les Cracks & Vincen BeeckMan
Opening: February 18, 2022, Folkwang Museum, Essen
In 2015-2020 a group of homeless people who live in and around Brussel’s main railway station took photographs of their life and community. In formal terms, the 750 or so images that were produced are characterized by flashlight, drastic close-up shots, and unusually cropped sections, and depict spontaneous scenes, selfies, moments of intoxication, and emotions. They are images of moments “amongst one another”. The exhibition shows a different, unbiased view of life under precarious living conditions from an insider perspective. There are no hierarchies here and members of the group take turns to don the roles of photographing or posing. The negotiating and shifting of inside and outside perspectives and questions of exclusion and belonging are key. The exhibition takes photographs of people from the center of the city of Brussels and the “fringes of society” and places them center stage.
The title “Les Cracks”, according to Belgian photographer Vincen Beeckman, who provided the disposable cameras for the project, refers to a colloquial French expression similar to “champion” to express the strength and ability to live despite the precarious conditions the group faces. Together with René, Franck, Jackie, Patti, and Vincen, about 30 images were selected for the exhibition. A four-page article documenting and reflecting on this process appears in collaboration with the art and homeless people’s newspaper Arts of the Working Class at the end of February 2022.