First and foremost, this is an ode to friendship. One that was forged years ago between several boys living in the countryside, surrounding the small village of Hoegaarden. The loyalty and unwithering spirit within their comradery, as well as the picturesque scenery with its plains and creeks, free to roam and explore, provided the ideal backdrop for Seppe Vancraywinkel to grow into the young romantic he is today. As they got older and have now left the place that once connected them, in search for new ventures, Vancraywinkel imagines and himself his friends as moving through life inside a bubble that assumes form whenever they are together. Within their togetherness he finds solace and refuge, as the bubble is impermeable to demanding noises from the outer world.

“Within the Bubble of Surroundings”, Vancraywinkel’s year-long work, aims to document spontaneous moments in which both visual and affective traces of the bubble are noticeable. The selection grants an insight into an evolving yet solid friendship in which notions of time, space, adulthood, masculinity and intimacy are spontaneously and intuitively reconfigured in a playful manner.

But those who love, inevitably, also fear loss. The bubble works both ways. Its purpose is not only to shield and protect from outside pollution, but also to guard those inside, to preserve them. By capturing snapshots on black and white film, they start to resemble a dream, disconnected from time but forever fixed on film. (Text by Florence Flussie)