"Silence. In times were everything is framed into a format to problematize reality as kind of market driven neuroticism, I longed to escape into a troubleless, and perfect world, a kind of naive desire for a peaceful beautiful world. The project starts with the idea of beauty and the sublime. The influential Chinese landscape painter Guo Xi (c. 1020-1090) who wrote a sentence which felt appositely to our times, "Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly troubles". On the South Korean island of Saryando there is an encounter with an English teacher who tells the legend of Ognyeo, a Korean princess who was sent to the world by her father as a punishment for her sins committed in the celestial world. Both, the phrase of Gou Xi and the Korean mountain legend, are to some extend mildly ironic and naive, which results in an attempt to document, capture and sometimes stage reality. Opposed to what photography does, the images are used to escape from reality, and try to fit in a sense of poetry in our dailyness." (F.V.)
Review:
"Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly Troubles
Frankie Verdickt has traveled several times to South Korea in order to portray this somewhat enigmatic peninsular half-a-country. The photographer seems to have fully immersed while absorbing seascapes, tourists, shopping malls, animals in the street, park life, young couples, under the bridge, pinewood, buildings. This multitude of impressions is even enhanced by the accompanying, mesmerizing soundtrack. A wonderful idea, not often used, but it certainly brings a whole new dimension to the photobook if one goes through the effort of listening to even some of the online soundscapes which mingle so naturally with the placid, extremely well composed pictures. The soundtrack ties the book together, it fits like peas in a pod. Many of the sound fragments are translated afterwards, which results in a small booklet and mid-pages with text; these conversations are funny/philosophical reflections; echoing the 4 religions which determine South Korea; Nature (shamanism), Buddhism, Christianity, and Capitalism. I really enjoyed listening to these sounds and voices and loved reading the excerpts; an ideal mental-travel-experience. Throughout the book, the reader keeps discovering photo gems, all of the photos bathe in an extremely well used big (probably soft box) flashlight (hard and soft at the same time). Clearly Verdickt is no lazybones, he doesn’t mind a bit of carrying equipment. The result is all over in a very dramatic effect and a tremendously poignant outline in the composition. The pictures intrinsically appreciate the reality of everyday life, utterly enhanced by the poetry of a photographer’s emotional connection with even the smallest of details; the epitome of the metaphysical experience of traveling. Bookwise one remark; browsing back and forth, as well as slow pacing through the book, I wonder if the bookdesign didn’t get the better of some really good pictures, which creates a bit of frustration, but then again, that same feeling keeps you going to and fro. An intriguing photobook anyways, and moreover, again, a new extension to a continuously growing intriguing oeuvre." (Peter Waterschoot, in: The Art of Travel, source: http://www.urbanautica.com/review/the-art-of-travel/312)
About the photographer (*1971):
Franky Verdickt he graduated in 2007 with a Master in Photography from Sint Lucas Brussels in Belgium. In his personal work he recreates reality by trying to under- stand the essence of what a certain reality means. He plays with truth in the images, as he under- stands that truth is a construction that is man made. By being aware of this, his images become true images, by mixing reality and fiction. His personal work has been awarded several times and exhibited around the world.
In 2014 he published the book ‘The South Street Village’, a staged project about the last and only Maoist village in China. In 2015 he published his second book ‘Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly troubles’. Franky Verdickt currently lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
Review:
"Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly Troubles
Frankie Verdickt has traveled several times to South Korea in order to portray this somewhat enigmatic peninsular half-a-country. The photographer seems to have fully immersed while absorbing seascapes, tourists, shopping malls, animals in the street, park life, young couples, under the bridge, pinewood, buildings. This multitude of impressions is even enhanced by the accompanying, mesmerizing soundtrack. A wonderful idea, not often used, but it certainly brings a whole new dimension to the photobook if one goes through the effort of listening to even some of the online soundscapes which mingle so naturally with the placid, extremely well composed pictures. The soundtrack ties the book together, it fits like peas in a pod. Many of the sound fragments are translated afterwards, which results in a small booklet and mid-pages with text; these conversations are funny/philosophical reflections; echoing the 4 religions which determine South Korea; Nature (shamanism), Buddhism, Christianity, and Capitalism. I really enjoyed listening to these sounds and voices and loved reading the excerpts; an ideal mental-travel-experience. Throughout the book, the reader keeps discovering photo gems, all of the photos bathe in an extremely well used big (probably soft box) flashlight (hard and soft at the same time). Clearly Verdickt is no lazybones, he doesn’t mind a bit of carrying equipment. The result is all over in a very dramatic effect and a tremendously poignant outline in the composition. The pictures intrinsically appreciate the reality of everyday life, utterly enhanced by the poetry of a photographer’s emotional connection with even the smallest of details; the epitome of the metaphysical experience of traveling. Bookwise one remark; browsing back and forth, as well as slow pacing through the book, I wonder if the bookdesign didn’t get the better of some really good pictures, which creates a bit of frustration, but then again, that same feeling keeps you going to and fro. An intriguing photobook anyways, and moreover, again, a new extension to a continuously growing intriguing oeuvre." (Peter Waterschoot, in: The Art of Travel, source: http://www.urbanautica.com/review/the-art-of-travel/312)
About the photographer (*1971):
Franky Verdickt he graduated in 2007 with a Master in Photography from Sint Lucas Brussels in Belgium. In his personal work he recreates reality by trying to under- stand the essence of what a certain reality means. He plays with truth in the images, as he under- stands that truth is a construction that is man made. By being aware of this, his images become true images, by mixing reality and fiction. His personal work has been awarded several times and exhibited around the world.
In 2014 he published the book ‘The South Street Village’, a staged project about the last and only Maoist village in China. In 2015 he published his second book ‘Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly troubles’. Franky Verdickt currently lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
- Format
- HC (no dust jacket, as issued), 20,5 x 26,5 cm., 120 pp. + 40 pp. booklet, English, Ltd. to 300 copies