"Reconstruction"

pigment-based inkjet print on baryta paper mounted on dibond

Portraits of deceased trees in the North American part of the Tervuren Arboretum. This 'zoo for trees' near Brussels, Belgium, is a miniature version of an American national park, and was founded around 1910, during the rise of the US as a world leader.
The forest is man-made and artificial. Its lustre seems natural, but it needs constant care. When the trees die, like whales thrown on the beach, they are cosmetically removed by forest workers.
The trees in 'American Heritage' may be metaphors for the waning powers of any nation compulsively looking over its shoulder at its glorious historical significance. Formally 'American Heritage' is a recapitulation of historical American landscape photography.
(Wouter Verbeylen)