Projects: J'EXISTE

Photographed during Brussels Pride 2026, J’EXISTE explores the space between visibility and performance, intimacy and spectacle, flamboyance and ordinary life. Rather than documenting the event itself, the series focuses on how people use bodies, gestures, clothing, and interactions to express themselves openly in public space. Moving between affection, performance, solitude, and traces left behind, the photographs reflect on the desire to be seen beyond the social rules, expectations, and emotional restraint that shape everyday life. The project reflects on the possibility of a society more open to free expression — not only through identity or clothing, but also through gestures, emotions, vulnerability, and human presence itself. Behind the flamboyance lies a quieter question: what if people no longer felt compelled to hide behind imposed roles, dress codes, or the emotional distance of everyday “poker faces”? As the sequence progresses, the images gradually move away from spectacle toward absence, continuity, and memory. The final photograph, where three generations briefly share the same frame beneath the word “LIFE,” opens the project toward possibility rather than conclusion: what if visibility, coexistence, and emotional openness became something ordinary, shared, and lasting — closer to the way we truly want to exist?