It’s October 2008 and I’m on my knees in an old mildewy storeroom at the Guislain Mental Institution in Ghent, Belgium. What I consider providential circumstances lead me to find a wealth of old photos; a remarkable, long forgotten visual archive of turn of the 20th century patients. In most cases the photographs I found were taken by Brother Ebergiste De Deyne (1887-1947), a pioneer in the mental health profession and author of “The Sensory Education of Abnormal Children” (1922). My discovery and the ensuing research and study evolved into a work-cycle I have called Reviving Souls.

The Guislan inspiration has manifested in work of various media, including oil paintings on varnished Japanese paper, light-graffiti, video works, and collaborative performance art/installation with sound artists.

The pictures from the early 1900’s show people as they are on that moment,there was neither time nor intention to stage them, no mirror check nor request for a fake smile. They show the individuals really and truthfully, they reveal their emotions - they had nothing to gain or lose. That’s the true beauty I believe. We are allowed to see their core.When I look, study and paint them, I try to hear their voices, to listen to them, and I want to allow them to share through my paintings the things they never told.

I try to give them a voice, their past lives in silence hidden away. I endeavour to bring back and place them in a room where they can be viewed. I want to honor their existence and beauty, place them in clear view for everyone to see; their lives open to be read."