franky verdickt / photolimits

PHOTOLIMITS belgium based platform for documentary photography
bernard onderdonck	danny veys	dieter de lathauwer	francky verdicky	frederic van walleghem	johannes marcus vande voorde	rronny smedts	titus simoens	wouter van vaerenbergh

franky verdickt

Franky Verdickt graduated in 2007 as a Master in Photography with magna cum laude from the Institute for Higher Education of Visual Arts Sint Lukas Brussels.
In Verdickt's personal work, his photography is a journey to discover the ideal society, the utopia. The theatrical approach he takes emphasizes the potential for control over reality. His work shows, as in documentary photography, the real places and the real people; however, beneath this is an ironic criticism of the ideology and of the search for perfection. Verdickt's work can be interpreted as showing the human desire for perfection, and yet the impossibility of its existence, unless within the imagination.
He works as a freelance photographer for several magazines, making portraits and reportages.
Verdickt joined the Photolimits collective in July 2007.

	e-mail: franky@photolimits.be
	tel: +32(0)479543229
	website: www.frankyverdickt.be

Stories:

The archeology of a refugeecamp (georgia)

The construction of a ghost city

In the 70s the Egypt government launched the the master plan to put an end to the encroachment of agricultural land. For thousands of years it was forbidden to built in the desert, for the desert remains the realm of the dead. Beside mythological reasons it was a well impossible to live in such an hostile environment. In less than 15 years, the urbanized area of Cairo has almost tripled in size. In less than a decade, a new urban world has been created at Cairo's gates.The desert fringes, the immanent property of the state, were sold without restraint or any overall plan to private developers. And this transfer continues to this day, involving increasingly gigantic private projects.
In 1991, immediately after the first Gulf War, Egypt signed a program of reform and economic liberalisation with the IMF and the World Bank. The agreement was aimed at reducing public spending, facilitating privatizations. After this agreement, the state could no longer give priority to public housing programs. In any event, the initial program of new towns intended for the working class had entirely failed to achieve its aims. The new towns remind ghost towns.
This serie of photographs shows a public housing project, called 'Built your house'. The government gave away a part of the desert were the less wealthy Egyptian are able to built their own house. To accomplish their dreamhouse it needs about 15000 to 25000EGP. The key phrase in building these settlements is cutting costs. Cheap materials and child labor as a result. If they finish the house within 15 month the builders receive from the government a grant of 1500EGP (+-200€).
The workers live with no running water nor electricity in on of the most hostile places on the planet. Weekly on thursday the workers go back home to their villages for the friday prayer and return on saturday morning.
The project lies a couple of kilometres from the road to 6th of October City. It seems like some project-manages will built a more prestigious gated community to hide the proletarian city. It is doomed to become a ghost city.

Leisure

With a rapidly growing economy, Xiamen, a city in Fujian province (between Shanghai and hong Kong), is one of the Special Economical Zones in China. Its proximity of Taiwan, the traditional bussiness partner, makes the city prosperous.
The Chinese middle-class is exponentially growing, which result in more leisure time for them. In a city like Xiamen this means hanging out on the beach, mostly organised as a package tour. Although the social realitiy on this place is a bit more complex then just chinese/taiwanese tourists. Lots of migrant workers, as part of the booming economy, spend leisure time on the same place.

Work

As the changing China is in constant demand of workers to build the new cities, a whole flux of migrant workers from western and central China seeks prosperity in the more richer eastern coastal part of China. Most of the migrant workers end up working in construction sites. Sometimes they spend years living on the construction until the site is finished.

Two months

On the 8th of august 2008 a conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia escalates. This two day war abandonnes the villages between Tskhinvali and Gori and make most of its villagers flee to refugeecamps in Gori and Tblisi. The first part of thee images shows the refugeescamp in Gori, the second part the retrait of the Russian troops from the bufferzone, and the third part the return of the people to their villages.

Pridnestrovie

Pridnestrovie is still full of old communist symbols to support the progressive realisation of the utopian communist project. Lenin still stands on his pedestal. Street names bare the old communist heroes. Parades are still being held to commemorate important Soviet days of celebration. But officially this country does not exist. "Pridnestrovie" collects images from the inside and the outside of a officially non-existing country.

Bosporus

...

The sunworshippers

As if it were a ritual, every year hundred of thousands Europeans go with their campervans, tents and caravans to the French Riviera (Cote d'Azur), pursuing a promising holiday. The odyssey starts halfway June until the end of August and brings Germans, French, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Belgian and every other European nationality to this sun-promising place. A congé payé with quasi certitude of sun, sea and beach.

Siberia of Europe

The Kukes prefecture, in northern-east Albania near to the Kosovar border, which includes almost 120,000 people , of whom 75% are rural - is one of the poorest regions in Albania. Because of its isolation , this was the Siberia of Albania where politial prisoners under Enver Hoxha were sent. Nowadays, because of the natural beauty of the region there is a huge potential for an eco-touristical enterprising. In cooperation with Fonds Pascal Decroos.