About
Jeffrey De Keyser was born in 1984 in Kortrijk, a Belgian city in the Flemish province of West Flanders. He grew up in a village called Marke just outside of Kortrijk. He is currently living in Ghent and started working as a social science teacher in Brussels after graduating with a master’s degree in political science from Ghent University.
Besides teaching, his biggest passions are travel (both abroad and inside the country) and photography, preferably at the same time. These passions reflect his interest in exploring society and the human mind.
De Keyser has always been interested in the power of visual language as a means of communication and storytelling, but it was only in 2014 that he began to take photography more seriously when he discovered the street photography genre. And he is still in love with it today. According to Jeffrey, street photography opens up a whole new world of magical moments and untold stories. What started off as a leisure-time activity became a means of self-expression and discovery for him, which fundamentally changed his perception of reality.
As a street photographer, De Keyser likes to focus on the surreal and absurd condition of human existence. He sees photography as a mirror of the subconscious, as an existential inquiry into perception, as a way of questioning the Camusian conflict between the human tendency to seek meaning and purpose in life and the human inability to find any. His aim as a photographer is to portray a slice of the human condition, a glimpse of the subconscious mind through a universal visual language. His photography is strongly inspired by the surrealist movement.
His work has been exhibited and curated internationally, including at the Brussels Street Photography Festival, the London Street Photography Festival, the Italian Street Photo Festival in Rome, Street Sans Frontières in Paris, and the Moment Street Photo Awards in Częstochowa, Poland. Features that have been published online include PhotoVogue, Life Framer and Eyeshot Magazine. In Belgium, he has exhibited and been awarded at the Fotonale in Bruges, the photo festival ‘Lens op de Mens’ in Pelt, as well as at shows curated by the visual arts platform Breedbeeld. His first solo exhibition ‘Catharsis’ - in collaboration with Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen - travelled across 18 cultural centres across Flanders, Belgium between June 2019 and April 2022.
Upcoming exhibitions
- Indian Photo Festival 2022, 18 Nov - 19 Dec 2022, State Art Gallery Madhapur, Hyderabad (IN).
Current exhibitions
- Feline Fiction at Gastfeld Gallery 2022, 1 Jul - 29 Oct 2022, Gastfeld Gallery, Bremen (DE).
- Opole Photography Festival 2022, 30 Sep - 2 Dec 2022, Municipal Public Library, Opole (PL).
- On SPOT exhibition 2022, 4 - 16 Oct 2022, National Theatre I. L. Caragiale, Bucharest (RO).
Past exhibitions
- Wojnowski Festiwal Fotografii 2022, 4 Jun - 1 Oct 2022, Wojnowo village, Ruciane-Nida (PL).
- MSPA post-competition exhibition 2022, 2 Jul - 30 Aug 2022, Resursa, Żyrardów (PL).
- Street Sans Frontières 2022, 27 - 29 May 2022, Galerie Joseph Turenne, Paris (FR).
- Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen 2022, 15 Mar - 4 Apr 2022, CC 't Aambeeld, Aartselaar (BE).
- Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen 2022, 14 Feb - 10 Mar 2022, CH Merelbeke, Merelbeke (BE).
- Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen 2022, 17 Jan - 10 Feb 2022, CC De Steiger, Menen (BE).
- Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen 2021, 13 Dec 2021 - 13 Jan 2022, CC Het Perron, Ieper (BE).
- Moment Street Photo Awards 2021, 11 Dec 2021 - 5 Jan 2022, Gaude Mater, Częstochowa (PL).
- Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen 2021, 15 Nov - 9 Dec 2021, CC De Brouckere, Torhout (BE).
- Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen 2021, 11 Oct - 11 Nov 2021, Cultuurhuis De Leest, Izegem (BE).
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Awards & Achievements
- Moment Street Photo Awards, Finalist in the 2021 competition.
- London Street Photography Festival, Finalist in the 2021 photo series category.
- YourDailyPhotograph.com, Selected in 2021 for the online print repository.
- Eyeshot Magazine, Published in the 2020 magazine's "The Mirror" issue.
- London Street Photography Festival, Finalist in the 2020 photo series category.
- Street Photographers Foundation. My work featured on the website in 2020.
- Exibart Street, Honorable mention for 'Catharsis' in 2020 contest.
- Fotonale Brugge, Finalist in the 2019 photography contest.
- Life Framer Collection, 'Catharsis' featured in the Life Framer Collection in 2019.
- BREEDBEELD Lens op de Mens, Selected for the 2019 curated exhibition.
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Features & Publications
- Docu Books, October 2022. Two of my photos included in the digital Docu Book: Vol 2.
- Photographers for Ukraine, July 2022. One of my photos taking part in the print sale.
- Bored Panda, April 2022. Feature article in the online magazine.
- Esquire Russia, November 2021. Photo published in November issue of the magazine.
- Stad Gent, November 2021. Poster campaign 'Gents Moment' in the streets of Ghent.
- Het Nieuwsblad, October 2021. Article about my photo series 'Psalm 23'.
- Street Photo Pool, August 2021. Interview for the Instagram page.
- Urban Street Diving, July 2021. Interview about my project 'Belgitudes'.
- YourDailyPhotograph.com, January 2021. Selected for the online print repository.
- Street Fight / observe, January 2021. Golden Gloves Award 2020 winner.
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