Gerdi Willems,

Born in Louvain, 1957.

Photography was her father’s passion. So while growing up, she closely followed all the new developments from B&W analog to digital. Whether at school or university, there were always dark rooms to hide in, to develop and print analog work. After this student period, life became serious, one had to enter into the light.

In collaboration with peers, she created a treatment center for autistic and psychotic children called de Dauw, where she worked for ten years. Then one of life’s chances brought her to Brussels, where she worked as a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in an Ambulatory Centre for mental health.

Her interest in photography never left her. Through adult education, she took some years of courses at the LUCA School of Arts (Brussels) and   is still continuing her training at the ‘Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten’ in Anderlecht. 

She carried out some psycho-social projects. For example, she documented the creation of a meeting and culinary centre KYVOS in an abandoned hangar near the canal in Brussels. This project, that highlighted the efforts made by the visitors of ‘Den Teirling’, - an activity centre for adults with a psychological vulnerability, has received the Art In Society Award from CERA in 2015 and was often used later in presentations on ‘Den Teirling’.

She also made a report on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Zaventem and Maelbeek.

She remains interested in contacts and projects that are inclusive and that visualize people, projects and actions that are not necessarily «liked» on social networks.

Nowadays,  she has embarked on a new path, a poetic and artistic way of philosophical topics, of her sensitivity and intimate appreciation of encounters and loss. In 2024, she presented ‘Passing by’,  which breathes an ephemeral atmosphere.

She is currently working on new projects: ’Playtime’, which highlights the importance, the healing properties, and the dynamic of play. Another  project  ‘Speaking with White’, is looking for ‘abstraction’ in the play of light, for touches of color in a wide white space.

She returned to the dark room, experimenting with ways of development, photograms and (pseudo)solarization

We never know what lies ahead. The future is still full of surprises and possibilities.

EXPOSITIONS

COMING SOON:

-2025, March 27-April 6: Group-exhibition OPUS ONE, organised by BREEDBEELD  in LaVallée, Rue Adolphe Lavallée 39, Brussels

-2025, October.17 till 26: Group-exhibition  SILENCE, organised by Collective FocuZ in CC Factorij, Zaventem

-2024, November: Solo exhibition in Groningen, Photogallery Lichtzone

-2024, October: Participation in Expo of Tete-Beche in Felix Hap-house, Brussels during ‘Artistenparcours’ Etterbeek. 3th Public Price.

-2024, June: Passing By. Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Brussels

-2017, June: The Color of Almond. Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten , Brussels

-2015, the Creation of Kyvos, Cera Award.

PUBLICATIONS:

-2024 dec, included in OPUS ONE, published by BREEDBEELD