Stephan Vanfleteren / Charleroi – Il est clair que le gris est noir
Impressive visual testament to a city in transition:
hard on Charleroi, soft on its residents
In recent years, Stephan Vanfleteren has spent days wandering around 'le pays noir' . The photographer has a love-hate relationship with the industrial city on the Sambre, where the coal mines have long since closed and where the declining steel industry is creaking under the global crisis. Sometimes Vanfleteren is shocked by the poverty, crime and decay, but on the other hand he is often moved by the solidarity, openness and hospitality of the Carolo's.
Charleroi, Il est clair que le gris est noir is not only a visual testament to a city in decline but also the personal record of impressions, musings and thoughts of a man who looks, listens and writes about the black ghost of a grey city.
Text and photos by Stephan Vanfleteren.
Book at the exhibition in Fotomuseum Charleroi, from 23 May to 6 December 2015.
“A coup de foudre. I can’t describe it any other way when I first discovered Charleroi somewhere in the early nineties.
The view from the top of the slag heaps is breathtaking: the Sambre that cuts invisibly through the city, the ring that surrounds it like a cloaca, the factories that are moored in the middle of the city as if on an aircraft carrier and the many coal mountains that lie resting in the distance.
Charleroi is sick, tired, worn out, burned out, hurt, humiliated. But although the city was once voted the ugliest city in the world by blind minds, you will find the warmest hospitality in all of Belgium. The Carolos are chaleureux to the depths of their soul. I love Charleroi. I kiss her on the mouth, despite her stinking breath.”
Stephan Vanfleteren
Published by Hannibal
French, English, Dutch
21 x 17 cm
256 pages
2015
Impressive visual testament to a city in transition:
hard on Charleroi, soft on its residents
In recent years, Stephan Vanfleteren has spent days wandering around 'le pays noir' . The photographer has a love-hate relationship with the industrial city on the Sambre, where the coal mines have long since closed and where the declining steel industry is creaking under the global crisis. Sometimes Vanfleteren is shocked by the poverty, crime and decay, but on the other hand he is often moved by the solidarity, openness and hospitality of the Carolo's.
Charleroi, Il est clair que le gris est noir is not only a visual testament to a city in decline but also the personal record of impressions, musings and thoughts of a man who looks, listens and writes about the black ghost of a grey city.
Text and photos by Stephan Vanfleteren.
Book at the exhibition in Fotomuseum Charleroi, from 23 May to 6 December 2015.
“A coup de foudre. I can’t describe it any other way when I first discovered Charleroi somewhere in the early nineties.
The view from the top of the slag heaps is breathtaking: the Sambre that cuts invisibly through the city, the ring that surrounds it like a cloaca, the factories that are moored in the middle of the city as if on an aircraft carrier and the many coal mountains that lie resting in the distance.
Charleroi is sick, tired, worn out, burned out, hurt, humiliated. But although the city was once voted the ugliest city in the world by blind minds, you will find the warmest hospitality in all of Belgium. The Carolos are chaleureux to the depths of their soul. I love Charleroi. I kiss her on the mouth, despite her stinking breath.”
Stephan Vanfleteren
Published by Hannibal
French, English, Dutch
21 x 17 cm
256 pages
2015
Impressive visual testament to a city in transition:
hard on Charleroi, soft on its residents
In recent years, Stephan Vanfleteren has spent days wandering around 'le pays noir' . The photographer has a love-hate relationship with the industrial city on the Sambre, where the coal mines have long since closed and where the declining steel industry is creaking under the global crisis. Sometimes Vanfleteren is shocked by the poverty, crime and decay, but on the other hand he is often moved by the solidarity, openness and hospitality of the Carolo's.
Charleroi, Il est clair que le gris est noir is not only a visual testament to a city in decline but also the personal record of impressions, musings and thoughts of a man who looks, listens and writes about the black ghost of a grey city.
Text and photos by Stephan Vanfleteren.
Book at the exhibition in Fotomuseum Charleroi, from 23 May to 6 December 2015.
“A coup de foudre. I can’t describe it any other way when I first discovered Charleroi somewhere in the early nineties.
The view from the top of the slag heaps is breathtaking: the Sambre that cuts invisibly through the city, the ring that surrounds it like a cloaca, the factories that are moored in the middle of the city as if on an aircraft carrier and the many coal mountains that lie resting in the distance.
Charleroi is sick, tired, worn out, burned out, hurt, humiliated. But although the city was once voted the ugliest city in the world by blind minds, you will find the warmest hospitality in all of Belgium. The Carolos are chaleureux to the depths of their soul. I love Charleroi. I kiss her on the mouth, despite her stinking breath.”
Stephan Vanfleteren
Published by Hannibal
French, English, Dutch
21 x 17 cm
256 pages
2015
