The fragmentary and unstable nature of memory lies at the heart of Joost Vandebrug’s practice. “Time alters what we see and how we hold it,” he says. By breaking landscapes into parts and reconstructing them, combining subtle shifts in distance and viewpoint with fragments gathered across different places and moments, he seeks a visual approximation of the way memory functions. Material research and experimentation are central to the creation of each piece. Working with ultra-thin handmade washi, photographic emulsions, thermoformed acrylic, resin and metals, Vandebrug allows the image and physical form to shape one another. The resulting imperfections thereby expose the mechanics of the process and reinforce the idea of fragmentation and unstable memory. Each piece is unique.
Vandebrug studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and worked as a commercial photographer and filmmaker before dedicating himself fully to his artistic practice. His documentary film Bruce Lee and the Outlaw received awards and critical acclaim. He has exhibited widely, including at Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam and FOMU, Antwerp, Belgium.
Moment in Time
His recent series Moment in Time captures fixed moments from an ever-changing sky. Inspired by the idea of panta rhei – everything flows – the series isolates singular points in time, drawn from a sky that never repeats itself. The photographs were taken in rapid succession, yet no two are alike: clouds shift their shape, light moves, and atmospheric currents create ever-changing patterns. Each panel preserves a fleeting moment. The images, transferred by hand onto ultra-light 5gsm washi, are fused onto hand-folded acrylic and sealed with a protective varnish – preserving something that constantly escapes us. The curved surface echoes the movement of the sky. These are not static scenes, but brief encounters with time – held just long enough to be seen.
Not Yet the Image
The series Not Yet the Image is inspired by early photographic experimentation and Karl Blossfeldt’s systematic plant studies. Vandebrug adopts a similarly attentive, serial gaze, but turns it towards the unstable, the in-between, and the not-yet-named. Rather than presenting fixed representations, the works stage seeing as an active process: images unfold slowly, inviting the viewer to assemble them piece by piece, as if encountering the world before it settles into certainty.
Pillow Book
Pillow Book is an exploration into the connections between past and present experiences. Much like the Japanese concept of a pillow book, where personal reflections are curated into a single artistic space, Vandebrug's work captures the essence of moments reshaped by time and the impact of our memories on new realities they form. Each composition consists of over 200 mono-types on handmade paper cards which serves as a testament to Vandebrug's dedication to pushing the boundaries of traditional photography and concurrently mirrors the transient nature of memory. The compositions reveal the intricate dance between the authentic and the distorted and are an amalgamation of intimate leaf close-ups and expansive landscapes. They stand as an eloquent metaphor for the multifaceted nature of recollection and memory - how it can be both faithful and altered.