honorable mention
Julien De Wilde belgium
title
Home sweet home
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entry description
For this "home sweet home" series, I decided to meet these people nobody cares about. They live in huts made of wood and metal. Access is not always easy, along rivers or in rice fields. They stay at home and live almost in autarky. They often spent their lives working in the rice fields, in the mud, under the hot sun. They receive a pension of less than one euro per day. So they are doing as well as they can. No distraction. Time passes, nothing happens, the heat is overwhelming. Alone, facing reality, facing the present, without artifice. You must accept. These conditions push human beings into introspection. The world is as we are, the reflection of our spirit. Some are afraid, some are sad, others are light-hearted and do not care about anything. Everyone reacts according to his dispositions, his memories, his aptitudes. But what is incredible is that their ego has evaporated. Their body is there, but their mind travels. They are not really concerned about what's going on. They observe what is happening from far away. Is it the full awareness that the world is illusory or the renunciation of taking control of one's life?about the photographer
Julien De Wide was born in Belgium in 1976 and is a professional photographer since 1996. He received his first camera at age 10 and started photographing his skateboarders friends. At 16, he travels to Kurdistan and makes his first personal photographic report that will be exhibited in Brussels. After studying photography, he began his career as a fashion photographer for women's magazines such as Elle and Marie Claire. After meeting with Grand Master Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Julien travels to India in Dharamsala. This is the beginning of a journey that will take him from Rishikesh to Bangkok where he lived for three years and did advertising photography for Nokia, Pepsi, Nike, among others. Now, Julien splits his time between Belgium and Thailand, working as a fashion and documentary photographer and as filmmaker. The search for truth and purity determines his work. The authenticity of emotions and intimacy with the people he photographs or films are at the center of his approach. Julien is extremely grateful to his mother and grandfather, both photographers.back to gallery
