Jef Paepen / Ego Sumus

Jef Paepen / Ego Sumus
KR-line / Photo Art Gallery / Gentpoortstraat 37 / 8000 Brugge
4/2/2011 - 27/2/2011

Ego Sumus - I [am] we are - A quest for identity, a search for the alter-ego, the us in me, the confrontation with our own most inner being. Jef Paepen captures it all in his photographic series Introspection. With Osmosis, he shows the fusion of 2 bodies, unitiy in all it's diversity, a balance between 2 different souls.
The exhibition Ego Sumus - I [am] we are - brings together a selection from the series Introspection and Osmosis, a symbiosis of seemingly contradictory thoughts. It is a juxtaposition of two against one, where there are two in one or two fused into one. From the images, no one can define where singular begins or where plural ends, or vice versa. Trough the different layers in each image, the visitor can explore his own experiences and ideas: self-discovery, love, affection, anger, uncertainty... Each image can be viewed from different backgrounds. The images are fixed, but also variable. The photographer offers us a technically finished picture that we as a spectator can use to experiment, interpret, muse... We can bring the photo back to life in our personal universe. The work is not "finished" within the meaning of "final and unequivocal" but leaves us as viewers the freedom to form our own vision. The pictures are not only beautiful, they also encourages introspection and the understanding of interpersonal relationships around us.
Jef Paepen exhibited in Belgium, Holland, France and Austria.