Review
In front of me lie a few selfportraits of Lut Moerenhout, a photographer.
Four images,no trace of narcicism. Four seductive photographs that tell us more about the artist by what they disguise than an extensive monography about her work ever could.
The viewer tries to find her eyes … both access to her soul ánd the instruments she needs to do her work … in vain. In these images, she hides her eyes in the shadow of a hat, behind dark sunglasses, in one photo her eyes are turned downwards and in the last one they are simply omitted … nose, lips above two clenched fists.
How should I describe the joy of recognizing someone who plays hide and seek ?
She reveals by disguising, she astonishes by hiding. It’s Lut Moerenhouts way of telling us her story.During the course of her career , Lut became intrigued by decay, industrial decline. But what she shows us are the parts which allow us to surmise the beauty of what once was. Lut is not interested in pure decadence, the pleasure of seeing things fall apart but she’sattracted by the beauty of things which have become obsolete, useless, defenseless.
The photographer allows herself to be seduced by reality and its prismatic facets.
It’s an attitude which typifies not only the artist, but also the woman Lut.
Behind the camera stands a woman for whom the world cannot be ruled by clichés. She looks and captures what she sees, in a radically different way from most of us, allowing lifeless objects to speak their own language.
She is refreshingly original in the objects she chooses to depict. Things we take for granted can become shocking. She makes us look at objects in a different way, from a different perspective.
Lut Moerenhout uses our everyday reality to create a new world. The viewer will unavoidaby recognize her strength but also the wink in her vision, with a sense of astonishment and affection. That is exactly her art.
Lieve De Boeck (reviewer De Standaard der Letteren)