Ingrid Deuss Gallery presents De Nada, a new exhibition by photographer Peter De Bruyne (°1966, Bruges).

The photos are the result of a road trip that the photographer undertook together with musician Daan Stuyven. Together they traveled through rough, desolate Spanish landscapes, in search of a place that approaches nothingness.

The landscape determined when the car stopped and formed the backdrop for both a musical and a photographic quest.

The road trip was already the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Christina Vandekerckhove, but for the first time the photos De Bruyne took during the trip are also presented as a solo exhibition.

Peter De Bruyne is an atypical photographer who works almost exclusively analogue. He does this not out of opposition to the rise of digital technology, but out of respect for the quality of analogue processes. He photographs with polaroid and film because they surprise him.

He likes the uncertainty inherent in analogue photography. Economically and slowly, he deliberately creates blurry images with his 20-year-old Nikon F4. Technical perfection and complete control do not interest him. After all, in sharp, beautifully lit photos, he cannot lose the atmosphere and emotion he wants to convey. His image and desolate landscapes therefore excel in imperfection and convey a cinematic atmosphere.

The empty, desert-like landscape initially gives the impression of being completely deserted. Yet these strange places form

the ideal backdrop for a whimsical photographic process. That's how he likes it.

De Bruyne challenges the viewer to “look creatively”. He shows "the other side" to whoever wants to see it. With great attention he asks the viewer for attention. He looks beyond the obvious, omits and purifies. Where nothing can be seen at first sight, after a while structures reveal themselves in the flue landscapes or characters of his images. For De Nada, De Bruyne allowed himself to be guided by the landscape, in search of the right, hard, spicy light. If the light wasn't there, he wasn't shooting. He was sometimes on the road for several days without taking a single picture. And when the moment did come, he often only took one picture. An impression, a contour, an emotion, an atmosphere. So the essence.

De Bruyne doesn't make images, he encounters them. Captions are not necessary, because these photos are stills, snapshots of an apparition, images that could have been taken anywhere and nowhere. They are also stripped of every detail. Those who watch do not see a person, a place, a time, but an illusion. The Nada is Peter De Bruyne's sixth series. Previously he made the series 'DéCORS,' On Location 'Nuit Américaine' and 'Stills'. In 2014 he traveled through Poland with journalist Marc Peirs, which resulted in the Wisla Stories series. A book of that series was also published by Houtekiet publishers, with 20 stories and 20 photos.