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
- Dublin Street Photography Festival 2024, 3 - 6 May 2024, Charlemont Square, Dublin (IE).
Current exhibitions
- Moment Street Photo Awards 2023, 15 Mar - 15 Apr 2024, Muzeum w Lewkowie, Lewków (PL).
Past exhibitions
- Stadsfotograaf Oostende 2024, 9 - 24 Feb 2024, Anglicaanse Kerk, Ostend (BE).
- Moment Street Photo Awards 2023, 16 Dec 2023 - 4 Feb 2024, Muzeum Cz., Częstochowa (PL).
- Livorno Photo Meeting 2023, 17 - 19 Nov 2023, Thisintegra, Livorno (IT).
- Schafttijd exhibition 2023, 28 Aug - 1 Sep 2023, Warandepark, Brussels (BE).
- Grote Prijs Sociale Fotografie 2023, 13 - 23 Jul 2023, Ons Huis, Ghent (BE).
- 24HourProject France exhibition 2023, 4 - 13 Jul 2023, La MVAC du 7e, Paris (FR).
- 24 Scatti Bike 2023, 24 Jun - 9 Jul 2023, MAAC, Ceglie Messapica (IT).
- 24 Scatti Bike 2023, 1 - 10 Jun 2023, Museo Civico, Bari (IT).
- Indian Photo Festival 2022, 18 Nov - 19 Dec 2022, State Art Gallery Madhapur, Hyderabad (IN).
- Opole Photography Festival 2022, 30 Sep - 2 Dec 2022, Municipal Public Library, Opole (PL).
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Awards & Achievements
- Dublin Street Photography Festival, Finalist in the 2024 single image competition.
- Bump Books, 'A Scanner Darkly' zine published in 2024 by Bump Book .
- Moment Street Photo Awards, Finalist in the 2023 competition.
- Livorno Photo Meeting, Finalist in the 2023 competition.
- Grote Prijs Sociale Fotografie, Finalist in the 2023 competition with the series 'Catharsis'.
- 24HourProject, Finalist in the 2023 France exhibition.
- Indian Photo Festival, Selected for the 2022 festival with the series 'Belgitudes'.
- 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.
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Features & Publications
- Bump Books, February 2024. 'A Scanner Darkly' zine published by Bump Books.
- Observe Collective, January 2024. Golden Gloves Award 2024 winner.
- Paris Street Photo Awards, December 2023. Honorable Mention PISPA 2023.
- RAUW Magazine, December 2023. Publication of the series Catharsis, finalist GPSF.
- Bored Panda, October 2023. Feature article in the online magazine (part 3).
- Bored Panda, February 2023. Feature article in the online magazine (part 2).
- 121clicks.com, October 2022. A selection of my images featured on 121clicks.com.
- 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 (part 1).
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