Jadis & Naguère

One of the first bodies of work I created after leaving Belgium and moving to California.  

"Jadis et Naguère" are two beautiful French words practically meaning the same, referring to the past, to bygone days. 

In Los Angeles, the eager confrontation with a new world was exciting, thrilling, devouring and hard at the same time.  Being nostalgic, at times, I had a need to hold onto who I had been in Europe, to what I had always known but now less depending on that past, adjusting and finding a balance and a new path in Los Angeles that has become my adopted home.  

I realized I was seeking a sensibility that was inherent to the old Europe, inherent to everything that had shaped my personality, from being a teenager to becoming an adult. 

The challenge with this series of portraits was not to only translate these feelings, but also to give expression by finding woman, living in the US, symbolizing my "becoming-of-age" in 2 different worlds.   These portraits reflect what I have been influenced and guided by.   Therefore, in a way, they are portraits of my state of mind and are closest to my personality.