Belgian autumn. A Confabulated History

Viewing Jan Rosseel’s ”Belgian autumn. A Confabulated History” is almost overstimulating. There is such a variety of imagery and secondary visuals, that for me it almost becomes too much. Whilst I have developed a strong appreciation for this type of curation of photography styles to develop a project, I think that this work has a little too many different elements. Of course, with a larger body of work, the ability to seamlessly integrate elements increases, but I also believe there must be a limit.

I do really like the above collection of images though. The colour palette, negative space, and use of scale give this collection a curious feel. 

The main element that I was able to draw from this series was Rosseel’s ability to blend studio shots with documentary photography. I have not yet come across this in my visual research (although I am sure that many other photographers utilise it.) Coming from a commercial background, I was wondering if I could make use of my studio and lighting skills with this project, or if that would be considered fabrication of the ‘real.’ It would need to be done in a way that the images flow with the rest of the body of work, as is the case with this series.

Below is a selection of the studio shots, which sit alongside still life, landscape, and artefacts.

Rosseel, J 2010-15, Belgian autumn. A Confabulated History., photographic series, viewed 03 April 2020 <https://janrosseel.com/archive/belgian-autumn-a-confabulated-history>