« What do you do when you miss everything? How do you avoid being haunted by the place you left? A painful absence mixed with hope, nostalgia that associates past and future, like a paradox.
Above all, this project is a quest: that of finding a part of myself in a country where I once lived, and whose only memories I had were of colours, smells and sensations. Throughout my journey, I sought to explore and confront these memories built on a form of absence. Between dismay and delight, I often asked myself the question of the integrity of these images. Were these memories real or pure fabrications of the mind?
I thus designed this book with the aim of capturing a process of transformation where each image, composed of sepia, shadows and ochre, carries in its flesh the testimonies of the past and illustrates that nothing ever dies.»
Diploma project (2021) by Jenna Callewaert
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BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Maisie Cousins
The aim of this workshop, led by photographer Maisie Cousins, is to use photography as a tool to broaden our powers of observation. During the week, students explored macro photography to create miniature and abstract worlds using everyday objects and accessories. This invites us to reflect: what else are we overlooking in our immediate environment?
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Douglas Mandry
This workshop brought together ECAL graduate artist Douglas Mandry, the Polaroid Foundation, and around thirty Bachelor Photography students. They had the exceptional opportunity to work with a camera that produces Polaroid films in a 40 × 60 cm format and weighs nearly 200 kg. This experience was made possible thanks to its operators, John Reuter and Harriet Browse, who introduced the students to the use of this unique device and the Polaroid Foundation team. Douglas Mandry provided the project’s artistic direction and supported the students in their experiments carried out directly with and on the films. The final result was presented as a collective exhibition on ECAL’s premises, revealing a particularly rich diversity of approaches and visions.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Adel Debabéche
Ouled El Bahdja offers an intimate glimpse into Algerian youth, caught between waiting and the desire to leave. This project explores the mental and physical space of a generation dreaming of elsewhere, in a country where the future feels suspended. It is a portrait of a fragmented daily life, where time stretches into boredom, yet a quiet tension remains—between resignation and hope. An attempt to capture those in-between moments, those gazes turned toward Europe—a collective fantasy, a promise of recognition, but also an uncertain path... Ouled El Bahdja sheds light on a youth that, despite sociopolitical constraints, seeks to build a meaningful existence. A gesture to make visible the dreams and desires for emancipationborn in the shadows.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Belinda Kiela
The images in this edition are fragments of an immersion at the University of Kinshasa : a glimpse into student life in a vibrant, ever-moving capital. Through laughter, doubts, and encounters, the photographer has learned to anchor herself in a daily life far removed from the one she knows in Europe. Bana ya Mbóka — children of the country — gives a face to the youths who study, dream, and resist on this campus. Founded in 1954, UniKin aimed to be a leading African institution, but instability slowed that vision. Despite strikes, power cuts, and limited resources, the students she has met exude strength and clarity. This project reveals moments of connection, gestures of resilience, and hopes that persists through it all.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Delio Testa
Naples is a vibrant expression of a people’s deep love for their land. This passion lives on despite the weight of daily chaos and hardships that run deeper than it appears. To understand it, a person must enter Neapolitan life, where devotion to figures from religion, culture or everyday life is everywhere. These icons give strength, inspire creation and sustain a constant desire to celebrate. Neapolitans do not just endure struggle. They turn it into energy and a powerful source of hope. This book reflects that spirit through portraits and documentary work.