04 february 2022, Flor Linckens
Jan Pypers: “I transform a memory or a feeling into an image.”
Until 19 March, Contour Gallery in Rotterdam is showing the solo exhibition 'Swim', with photographs from the series “Nightgardeners” by the Belgian artist Jan Pypers. It is hard to imagine when you look at these photos on your phone or computer screen, but you are actually looking at representations of improbably realistic scale models. Pypers uses his photographs to gain a certain amount of control over that what people usually have little control over: our memories.
Pypers: “I usually start from an existing memory, mostly from my youth, something I saw or experienced and then try to give that reality a slight twist because, throughout the years we color our own memories. That way I transform a memory or a feeling into an image. As a child for example I once was face to face with an enormous wild deer in a forest. At that moment, I really felt a connection. I felt scared but the moment was also very beautiful.”
Jan Pypers, Nightgardeners XVI, 2021, Contour Gallery
Over time, our memories often take on a life of their own. We particularly remember the memories that are strongly linked to an emotion, either positive or negative. That's because during those events, hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released, after which a synchronous firing of neurons takes place in your brain. Recent neurological research has shown that this is precisely why the strongly emotional memories are seared into your brain. But those memories are not static and change as you change, or when you see a photo of the event, for example.
These days, many photographers are making concerted efforts to transcend the medium, for instance by combining analog and digital techniques in innovative ways. This includes Pypers, who makes carefully elaborated scale models for his photos, that are reminiscent of film sets. The artist has a background in the film world, where he developed a cinematographic eye and became acquainted with the possibilities of film sets, including forced perspective. Pypers takes the smallest details into account in its carefully built scale models. He subsequently edits the photos on his computer in post-production. When the image is complete, he destroys the scale model, leaving the photo as the only piece of evidence that this miniature world ever existed.
Jan Pypers, Nightgardeners XVII, 2021, Contour Gallery
The resulting images are exquisite, mysterious, poetic and dreamlike. They challenge your imagination, raise questions and are alienating and recognisable in equal parts. In one of the photos on show, we seem to be looking out of a mysterious and serene-looking Japanese-style building. We see a girl, who is half-covered by a deep fog. She has picked up one of the turtles in her presence. The entire scene is reflected in an indoor pond, but strangely enough, the girl is not visible in the mirrored image. In another photograph, we see a woman in the dark, looking into a cold, modernist building. She observes something absurd: a man in full diving gear. We see a number of A4 sheets dancing mid-air, but her hair suggests that there is, at most, a small breeze. The wind direction of the stream of papers also seems incorrect. As a viewer, you are taken by surprise by the mystery of the story, that you seem to fall right in the middle of. There is a certain dynamism and tension in these still images. In an interview, Pypers stated that he considers his images to be like short films.
The name of the series, Nightgardeners, refers to the shown activities that normally shouldn't take place at night, including night gardening. It acts as a metaphor for our lost connection to nature — which is enhanced by the unnatural rays of light that illuminate the night in Pypers' images. Images that are about loneliness and alienation, but also about happiness and dreams. Last autumn, Pypers' work was on display during the International Photo Biennale in Ostend.
