They Were began from the feeling of being an outsider in a space that appeared both constructed and abandoned.
I entered without prior knowledge or intention, approaching the environment as if encountering it for the first time.
The structures seemed to hold traces of human presence, even though no one remained. In that absence, something became perceptible: an echo of use, of movement, of life that is no longer there.

My approach was observational. I wanted to allow the place to exist as it was, without explaining it.
By looking without context or narrative, the space became both strange and familiar. It was not a search for meaning, but a way of registering what remains when a place seems to leave itself behind.

The structures depicted can be viewed at the Verbeke Foundation.