Hans Theys

 

 

 

___________________________

Hans Theys

 

 

 

Sunsets

About a book by Jonas Van der Haegen

 

 

Jonas Van der Haegen ((hardcoredior) was born in an unsightly town in Western Europe in 1996. In recent years he resided and worked in Tokyo, Auckland (Tāmaki Makaurau), New York, Berlin, Marseille, Mexico City, San Francisco and Copenhagen. His photographs constitute a public celebration of homosexuality and the LGBTQ+ community, which is still overshadowed by intolerance, isolation and loneliness in most parts of the world.

Nine months ago, visiting a show by Jonas Van der Haegen I discovered his Polaroids, lined up in showcases. I proposed to publish them as such, lined up, entrapped in a grid. 

Never would I dare write something about this book, these photographs, these men, their predilections, their joys, their nightmares, nor about this young photographer, this firm and tender person.

I have met Chris Burden, Paul McCarthy, Dirk Braeckman, Ronald Ophuis, Joost Pauwaert and other artists whose work seems to testify to a dark or violent personality. That’s how I understood that they are actually sweet teddies precisely because they have found a way to visualise their fantasies and fears.

The photographs reproduced in this book are analogue, concrete objects. They have been touched by the portrayed people. Thinking about them, only prayer comes to mind. For here one finds an apparent repetition, a yearning for anonymity, a liberating selflessness that can only be spiritual in nature. All flesh we are, full of shortcomings, but always perfect. In a multitude of faces, chests, backs, feet, ears and fists we find a single man, fragile, vulnerable, open. 

It is us we find, in our deepest doubts about ourselves, about the nature of existence, about tenderness and firmness, about identity and loss, about closeness, 
trust and surrender.

 

Montagne de Miel, 3 March 2024