Biography
Born in 1982, Thomas Vanoost is a Belgian artist using photography as his medium.
In 2002, he graduated in photography from a local fine art school, while also studying philosophy and sociology. Between 2002 and 2016, he never stopped working on personal photography projects and pursued a career in the investment industry at the same time.
In 2016, he decided to devote himself to photography after he became painfully conscious of the chaotic world we live in. The results are this series ‘visions of daily chaos’. Heavily influenced by his background in philosophy, his work intends to question our relationship to reality.
Artist Statement
My art finds its roots in ontology, the study of the nature of being, and in phenomenology, the branch of philosophy that studies the structure of perception.
I have always used photography as a visual language to express things that I couldn’t express with words. A few years ago, my life was a total mess. I wanted to express that sense of chaos and instability, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite explain what I was feeling like with words. I then decided to grab my camera, and tried to express it visually. That’s how I started experimenting with multiple exposure photography. And it worked. Through multiple exposure photography, I could express that sense of stress and chaos inherent to the world we live in much better than I could with written or spoken words.
Working with multiple exposure photography allows me to play with space and time (as all photos visible in the final image are slightly shifted in both space and time) and to create a feeling of everything being unstable and uncertain.
Without being too technical, I'd like to give hereafter some quick words of explanation on the personal reflexion that led me to create this series of multiple exposure photographs.
The central concept at its heart is based on the philosophical idea that all reality around us is uttelry chaotic and unstable. This vision of the world as an ever-changing place is not exactly new. Heraclitus of Ephesus already stated this very idea in the 5th century BC ("panta rhei", which means "everything flows"), and it remains more actual than ever today. For better of worse, we live in a world that is evolving at a very rapid pace, and we can all feel it. However, despite it's inherently chaotic nature, we human beings tend to perceive the reality around us as something more or less stable. We need a sense of structure and permanence if we want to remain sane. This is highly paradoxical. On the one hand, reality gives itself to perceive as stable, but on the other hand, we can feel it as intrinsically unstable. I call this dichotomy the great ontological treachery.
The central concept at its heart is based on the philosophical idea that all reality around us is uttelry chaotic and unstable. This vision of the world as an ever-changing place is not exactly new. Heraclitus of Ephesus already stated this very idea in the 5th century BC ("panta rhei", which means "everything flows"), and it remains more actual than ever today. For better of worse, we live in a world that is evolving at a very rapid pace, and we can all feel it. However, despite it's inherently chaotic nature, we human beings tend to perceive the reality around us as something more or less stable. We need a sense of structure and permanence if we want to remain sane. This is highly paradoxical. On the one hand, reality gives itself to perceive as stable, but on the other hand, we can feel it as intrinsically unstable. I call this dichotomy the great ontological treachery.
My ongoing body of work with multiple exposure is an attempt to restore balance by visually expressing the concepts of chaos, stress and instability, and to question our way of seeing the world as a stable place. By superimposing several exposures, I try to convey that "panta rhei" feeling that the world is an ever-changing place.
Jo & Z Lab
Thomas Vanoost is brand ambassador for Jo & Z lab, undoublty the best photography lab in Belgium.
Selected Press Coverage
Réponses Photo n°300
Berner Kulturagenda Cover Page - 31 May 2017
Eye-Photo Magazine - September 2017
Eye-Photo Magazine - November 2017
Fine Eye Magazine - February 2018
Practical Photography - May 2018