© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

Jurgen Onland’s project, entitled "I call him Vincent", represents an intense exploration of the relationship between memory, imagination, and identity. Through his photographs, Onland constructs a world in which the presence of an imaginary brother, Vincent, becomes the guiding thread of an emotional narrative that intertwines absence and desire, reality and possibility.

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

The photographer’s story is not merely personal; it opens a space for universal reflection on timeless mythic themes such as family conflict, separation, and reconciliation. Myths have always taught how family bonds can be both a source of pain and redemption, and how humans can adapt to adversity. In this sense, in Onland’s project the never-existent figure of Vincent embodies hope, comfort, and the possibility of a connection that was never realized.

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

Onland’s images function as truly mythic spaces: just as ancient civilizations crafted images to welcome the gods, today we produce images to focus attention and construct inner worlds. The photographs in "I call him Vincent" transform memory and imagination into visual space, allowing the viewer to navigate between what was and what could have been. Photography thus becomes the figuration of a gesture, a medium that questions the gaze and invites engagement with the emotional intensity such as nostalgia and longing. The invisible—the brother never had, the past that shapes us, unspoken emotions—knocks at the "gaze-door", and we may recognize it.

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

Onland’s project is a clear example of how photography can become a mythopoetic tool: a means to explore the intimate folds of memory and identity and to make visible what remains hidden. His photographs are not merely testimonies of a past imagination but symbolic bridges that allow us to confront our own memories, their shifting meanings and representations, and the gaps of the unexpressed.

© Jurgen Onland "I call him Vincent"

Jurgen Onland (website)