The 2008 jury visited the graduation exhibitions of the art academies.

LUCIANA CAPUTO (ST. JOOST)

Nonna con i suoi vicini
Luciana Caputo stands out with her documentary project "Nonna con i suoi vicini." The project tells the story of four women living in isolation in the countryside of Sicily. One of these women, Maria, is the photographer's grandmother. At eighty-nine years old, she, like the other women, is a widow. These women live next to each other, with each other, but also without each other. Caputo authentically portrays the world of these women by shooting on slide film. The ambient sound and sharpness of the slides make the scents almost tangible and the sunbeams almost palpable. You truly feel immersed among the women. At the same time, Caputo maintains a certain distance from her subjects. The series is both touching and powerful.

WOUTER HOOGHIEMSTRA (HKU)

In Between
"In Between" is essentially a series about voyeurism. Hooghiemstra applies paparazzi-like techniques and manipulates chance. It is precisely this technique that makes the images interesting. The people waiting in traffic are completely themselves, unaware that Hooghiemstra is hidden in the trunk of a car in front of them. Despite the uncomfortable way of working, he chose not to take snapshots, and this choice benefits the work. Wouter Hooghiemstra is nominated by the jury for his unconventional on-the-edge approach, which yields surprising images.

MAGDALENA PILKO (KABK)

Adagio
She photographed one inconspicuous moment at sea: a passing ship, waves, a quay. Her publication "Adagio" is constructed by taking that one moment as a starting point and exploring it further. By zooming in on a different detail and making a different crop, new photos emerge. The original image that Pilko took as a starting point is never fully visible. However, by carefully examining "Adagio," viewers create a complete image of the original photo in their minds. This image will be slightly different for everyone, giving mass medium photography a unique character. In addition to being an investigation into the workings of photography, her work also comments on the fleeting nature of photography and the rapidly evolving visual culture in which we live. The jury appreciates that Pilko's conceptual, exploratory approach yields aesthetically strong images. Pilko also presents two videos titled "vis-à-vis," which make viewers aware of their own way of looking by slowly exploring the image.

WILLEM POPELIER (KABK)

███ and Willem. Documentation of a youth
For his graduation project, he visually depicted the extraordinary life story of identical twins Paul and Willem. At the age of four, Paul left his parents' home to live with foster parents. Willem remained with their biological parents, who divorced a few years later. When the twins were fourteen, Willem also decided to move in with the foster parents, allowing Paul and Willem to live together again ten years later. Popelier succeeded in visually representing his personal background in an interesting way. By using a clear, "dry" style of photography that eschews background information, Popelier avoids falling into the trap of sentimentality. By combining these "dry" photos with a few photos from the family album, he prevents the work from becoming too detached. This balance makes a personal, delicate subject interesting to a wide audience. To place the project in a broader context, Popelier also filmed two sets of identical twins with unusual histories. The jury would have liked to see this line of inquiry further developed or omitted. Nonetheless, the jury is also very enthusiastic about Popelier's project.

EVA MARIE Rødbro (RIETVELD)

As a Danish artist, Rødbro grew up with stereotypical ideas about Greenland's inhabitants. The postcolonial relations between Denmark and Greenland still hinder discussions about this subject. To confront herself with this painful Danish history and to tell her own story, she spent some time in Greenland. She focused on young people in an urban environment and was struck by a pervasive sense of isolation. Her journey to Greenland resulted in a raw black-and-white film and a beautiful book that almost crawls under your skin, capturing the discomfort of living in a desolate environment. At the same time, it captures the discomfort of boys and girls in their teenage years. According to the jury, Rødbro effectively portrays the atmosphere she experienced in Greenland.

BOB VERBRUGGEN (ST. JOOST)

The work of Bob Verbruggen raised many questions for the jury and, upon first inspection, even irritation. On the floor lies a large collection of photos in various techniques, from plot prints to laser prints, from photocopies to transfer prints. Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the images together evoke a narrative of frayed edges, cheap sex, and paedophilia. Individually, they are 'just' images of a man, a boy, a room with cheap fake flowers, without a clear narrative structure. The story, influenced by images from the internet and news reports on TV, is created by the viewer themselves. By placing self-portraits among these photographs, it becomes apparent that Verbruggen is examining his position as a photographer. Themes such as shame, image-making, voyeurism, and the boundary between fiction and reality are central to this work. The jury praises Verbruggen’s boldness in opting for a no-nonsense presentation that aligns with the type of photos he makes and collects.