Vincen Beeckman

Born in 1973, Vincen Beeckman lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

Collaboration is essential to his work. The photographer avoids the one-sided relationship between photographer and subject that defines so many photographic practices. Instead, he collaborates extensively with marginalized and vulnerable people and gives visibility to communities that would otherwise go unrecognized.

Take The Cracks , a long-term project that Vincen Beeckman began in 2014 in Brussels, for which he collaborated with a community of homeless people around Brussels Central Station. The photographer provided the community with disposable cameras. Instead of trying to integrate them, he invited them to photograph themselves, and the result is an unfiltered record of their lives. The images are candid: they bear witness to the interactions between Vincen Beeckman and the community—and to the bonds among the homeless individuals themselves.

Vincen Beeckman’s creative approach is intense. The people featured in his projects are not mere subjects; rather, they become collaborators and longtime friends.

The photographer’s work cannot easily be confined to a single photographic genre, but rather spans a constellation of several. This may be because Vincen Beeckman is a multifaceted creator: an artist, a curator, and an educator. For example, between 2014 and 2020, he organized the “Extra Fort” events at Recyclart, collectively inviting hundreds of speakers to discuss photography over half a decade of themed evenings. He also created the Fusée de la Motographie, a traveling museum of Belgian photography consisting of 100 wooden boxes, each representing a different photographer. Indeed, Vincen Beeckman is committed to facilitating dialogue and fostering creative communities in every aspect of his practice.

Text by Hannah Abel-Hirsch, excerpt, 2021