The Belgian fashion designer turned artist and A Magazine N°1 curator posits the discipline of self-portraiture to be as open-ended as the man, the myth and the legend himself, in the series Self-Portraits on display at Eenwerk Gallery, Amsterdam.

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Pierre Debusschere’s new photographic experiments on the abstract body
A view of ‘SPECTRUM’ shows bodies as a motif for self-liberation
This September in Brussels, Pierre Debusschere presents a new series of photographs at Room, the exhibition space of his creative agency 254Forest. With SPECTRUM the Belgian photographer, who photographed the cover of A Magazine Curated By Iris Van Herpen in 2014, continues his experimental research on the body as an abstract motif, and presents a vision far beyond his roots in fashion photography.
Debusschere is known for his use of new technologies and the decisive angles of his photographs. This has led him to collaborate extensively with Raf Simons, Dior and Louis Vuitton with highly impactful films and print advertising campaigns, as well as directing music videos for Beyoncé since 2013, most recently for Already from the album Black is King.
This exhibition marks a new chapter in Debusschere’s artistic practice and takes him towards a more intimate direction, stripped from the armor of clothes. The body is compressed and distorted, implied rather than exposed under yards of monochromatic layers of fabric echoed by saturated scenography. The apparent constraint becomes a symbol of self-liberation, and the images create a space to question the notion of identity outside of the gender binary.
Magnifying the body and revealing its abstract motif was already the main theme of UNcovered, a personal exhibition Debusschere presented in 2018 at MAD Brussels. In 2013, he released the 52-minute film and art book I Know Simply That the Sky Will Last Longer Than I, created as a part of his solo exhibition for the 28th Hyères Festival of Fashion and Photography. The 360° project explored a distorted narrative featuring Andrew Westermann, Yannick Abrath and Ilse De Boer in an experimental light and in deep connection with his love for music. Shortly after, he photographed model Hanne Gaby Odiele wearing haute couture pieces for A Magazine Curated By Iris Van Herpen. The series, also featured as the cover, emphasizes the body as a transformative canvas which is pushed to the limits of the otherworldly.
SPECTRUM runs through October 3rd at the Room, Chaussée de Forest 254, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels.
Words: Maxime Der Nahabédian
N°13
Photography by Pierre Debusschere
A Magazine N°13 Curated By Iris Van Herpen, photography by Pierre Debusschere
‘Materia Lacrima’ by Pierre Debusschere in A Magazine N°13 Curated By Iris Van Herpen
Photography: Pierre Debusschere at Art + Commerce
Styling: Robbie Spencer at Intrepid
Model: Hanne Gaby Odiele at IMG
Makeup: Adrien Pinault at Management + Artists
Hart Stylist: Cyril Laloue at Julian Watson
Stylist Assistant: Coline Bach
Photography Assistant: Ismaël Moumin
The Belgian fashion designer turned artist and A Magazine N°1 curator posits the discipline of self-portraiture to be as open-ended as the man, the myth and the legend himself, in the series Self-Portraits on display at Eenwerk Gallery, Amsterdam.
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