“What should I do?”
That’s what some asked, while adjusting the focus.
“How should I pose?”
“Like this?
Is this okay?”
They all come from Ghent.
From Brugse Poort, from Sint-Amandsberg, Macharius, Nieuw Gent, Mariakerke, Prinsenhof—from lives with more future than past.
Boys and girls turning 18 in ’18.
Born in a new millennium, with 2000 on their passports, their chip cards, in a world that flashes and accelerates.
In that single photo, a new story is hidden.
As a printer, a dietician, or a digital engineer.
“Ready?”
A story where nothing is required, and everything is already okay, yes.
The now has already begun and the sand is slipping through a small hole.
This is who they are now.
Post-millennials with their own dreams and goals and plans and wishes and hope and trust.
Or not?
Thinking of a faraway land.
In a world filled with question marks and mist.
Soon there will be a thousand photos and new stories.
Hugo Claus would know.
“And later on, little boy, your life becomes a scrapbook.
But not for a long time yet, oh no, not for a long time.”
— Matthias M.R. Declercq
