Way to Love
Ghent (2018 - 2020)
Way to Love is a series grown spontaneously like a love story. First there is the acquaintance, followed by a desire to repeat the meeting over and over again till the rituality of the encounters makes it a perpetual present, a cyclical flow with no end in sight.
My fascination for the man in Muinkpark happened by chance as I used to pass through the park to go to my then lover. One day, intrigued by the presence of this man who was sitting everyday on the right side of the bench and available to whoever wished to have a talk, I stopped on the bridge crossing the park’s lake and contemplating his presence in a meditative state, I spontaneously took a photograph of him immersed in the green scenery. From then on, that gesture of stopping by the bridge and taking a photo of Joao had become my personal ritual, a minute to breathe and being present. Seasons passed by and I’d take every chance to secretly meet my friend, secretly because we actually never talked. Ironically and sadly, the week I had collected these photos to finally show them to him Covid started. Eventually I definitely left Ghent the following summer and never saw him again as well as my then lover. When I revisited Ghent in the Summer 22’ I headed to the park to sadly realise that even the bench was no longer there. Like a love story there is that melancholy of something gone forever, just the memory of what was a perpetual present, both temporarily and a gift.
Way to Love also refers to Joao’s attitude and availability to others, his loving and compassionate presence for others, such a beautiful way of being in the world. I saw many people crying on his shoulder, having a laugh with him or being whispered who knows what in their ears. The act of photographing made me pay attention to an almost non-scene and see grandeur in those tiny gestures of presence, the repetition of that act strengthened my interest for this series and the man, a bit like the Little Prince taking care of his rose.