BILLBOARD SERIES #33
Joselito Verschaeve
As Long As The Sun Lasts
November 2024 – March 2025
This billboard is the result of our recent open call. Recognising the interest from
local artists to showcase their work as part of our Billboard Series, we sought to
strengthen its relationship with the artistic community in Ghent by providing an
opportunity for artists to apply and share their work. In response, we received
over 100 different proposals, reflecting a strong enthusiasm for the project. A jury
composed of representatives from Artlead, 019, Curatorial Studies, and the
neighbourhood, faced the challenging task of selecting from many interesting
submissions. Ultimately, we chose the work of Joselito Verschaeve to be
featured on the billboard.
Joselito Verschaeve (1996, BE) is a Ghent-based artist whose work explores the
power of visual storytelling. He pursued a degree in photography at KASK, where
he cultivated a unique narrative style and discovered the photobook format as an
impactful medium for storytelling. "I really like how the arrangement of images
can deepen a narrative”, Verschaeve explains. This method of weaving images
into stories became a defining feature of his work, distinguishing it from the
traditional format where images often stand alone.
Verschaeve primarily works with black-and-white photography. "Black and white
allows me to hide certain features of time, making photographs from different
places feel coherent" he explains. This choice is not merely aesthetic but also
functional, helping to create connections between images taken in different
locations and moments. By removing colour, Verschaeve blurs the boundaries
between places and times, and “suddenly, photos from Athens or photos from
Ghent become the same, with the same feeling”. He is particularly inspired by the
genre of magical realism and the aesthetic of surrealism. His projects reflect
personal fascinations and visions of a dystopian world that resonate with
contemporary threats and events, where an ‘extra’ element is woven into the
ordinary. Through this lens, he explores history's cyclical patterns and human
intervention, crafting narratives that invite reflection and stimulate the
imagination.
A key element of Verschaeve’s practice is his use of vertical images, which
evokes a sense of fragmentation and immediacy. Vertical formats highlight
isolated moments and limit what the viewer can see. This creates tension and
curiosity, as the viewer instinctively desires to see beyond the frame. In his
photobooks, this design choice serves a narrative function: the viewer is
encouraged to turn the page, suggesting that the story continues, unfolding
through the sequence of images that follow.
Sequencing is essential to Verschaeve’s work. He approaches photography like
an archivist, taking many photographs to build an extensive collection. From this
archive, he selects and arranges images in sequences, creating a flowing
narrative similar to writing a poem or a novel. The arrangement of seemingly
unrelated images together creates an open-ended dialogue, allowing viewers to
interpret the narrative in their own way. This method, based on sequence and
repetition, reflects Verschaeve's understanding of the photobook format as a
dynamic storytelling medium.
Such an approach is evident in As Long As The Sun Lasts, the series of images
displayed as part of our Billboard Series. "Aesthetically, I like them together"
Verschaeve says of the four photographs. These images were taken at different
times and places, depicting distinct subjects—the artist’s eye, a cliff in Iceland, a
tower in Athens, and the artist’s hand holding an egg. Although each image is
tied to a specific location and context, they become decontextualised when
placed together, thus forming a loose narrative that the artist leaves open to
interpretation. Two large images are followed by two smaller ones, mimicking the
experience of turning pages in a photobook, and sparking curiosity about what
comes next. This sense of continuation—of "there is much more to it"—is central
to Verschaeve’s work, whether in a photobook or, in this case, on a public
billboard.
The combination of these images creates a quiet but powerful sense of dystopia.
They depict a world where beauty coexists with hints of uncertainty, making it
hard to tell where reality ends and imagination begins. This blend of dystopian
themes and poetic imagery blurs the lines between truth and fiction, revealing
how beauty and darkness often exist side by side.
Through his lens, Joselito Verschaeve is not just a photographer but also a
storyteller and archivist, creating sequences of images that explore the
complexities of life and fiction. His work emphasises that photography is more
than capturing single moments; it is about creating connections, sparking
conversations, and inviting viewers into a shared experience of visual narrative.
The essence of his practice remains grounded in the belief that
storytelling—through the archive, sequence, and narrative—is at the core of his
art.
Joselito Verschaeve lives and works in Ghent. His work has been featured in
exhibitions across Belgium, including at the Cultuurcentrum, Hasselt, Parlor,
Ghent and Platform 6A, Otegem. His work has also appeared in notable online
publications such as Phroom Magazine, Vice, PH, The Heavy Collective, and
Booooooom. In 2022, Athens’ photobook publisher Void produced his photobook
If I Call Stones Blue It Is Because Blue Is the Precise Word. Verschaeve is
currently working with Void on a new project, set to be released by 2025.
text by Martina Lattuca
