Roeland Verhallen is 20 and counts sheep to fall asleep.
MOSSLESS: What are you studying right now at UCU?
ROELAND VERHALLEN: I’m doing an interdepartmental bachelor of cell biology, neuroscience and psychology. Interesting? Yes. Leaving me with enough time for my photography? No.
ML: How would you describe your style?
RV: I’ve been told that my photographs are solitude. Large, empty spaces and emotionless figures. Although I feel that my style is constantly changing, I always try to create a certain ambience through a combination of things: I look for aesthetic, yet basic settings, dynamic yet objective poses and interesting yet ordinary objects. I almost always use a model, but I don’t like to show their faces in my photographs. I simply don’t want people to look at the photograph and spend their time identifying the model, seeing whether they know them etc. Instead, I want them to look at the photograph and feel something, see something and to forget everything else for just a split second. Yet above all, I want them to refrain from asking too many questions, for knowledge destroys feeling.
ML: Where do you see your photography going in the future?
RV: Somewhere great? At the moment I’m taking photographs purely for myself, although it would be incredible if one day I could make a living from doing what I love. So yeah, I guess that would be a nice direction to see my photography go.
ML: What was your favourite gig at that music festival we went to in Belgium?
RV: Fever Ray, by far. She’s mesmerizing.
