Peter-Anton has worked in the graphic arts industry for 37 years as a graphic designer; desktop publisher and reprograph. Initially on a freelance basis, later employed by reputable photogravures. In 2023, Peter-Anton decides to retrain as an architectural draftsman. In 2024 to become a photographer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, consider it a late vocation.
BOOKS
Dampoort. Or rather, the neighbourhood that stretches from the old Malmarsite, now the Bijgaardehof-cohousing project, along the railway line to Dampoort station.
The neighbourhood is located east of Ghent city centre and is named after the former city gate of the same name. It is a vibrant melting pot of different cultures and an excellent base for six thousand daily commuters travelling to Antwerp, Eeklo, Ghent-Sint Pieters and beyond.
This book is a short account of a search for captivating images.
Public services are slowly but surely disappearing from our daily lives; they have become a rare commodity. We are seeing an increase in inequality: a number of people are automatically left behind. I wanted to capture this sad observation in images.
But how do you do that?
Photographing people struggling at a payment terminal? Photographing queues that no longer exist? We can reverse the reasoning; the idea arose to make a photo reportage about rare services.
A photo reportage about De Fietsambassade (The Bicycle Embassy) in Ghent seemed obvious.
The Fietsambassade trains job seekers to become bicycle repairers, who can later move on to the regular labour market (social employment).
You can have your bicycle repaired there at an affordable price and rent a bicycle. They process parts from abandoned bicycles and bicycle wrecks to build new bicycles (circular economy).
In short, it is a public, connecting service that we cherish. What follows in this magazine is a photo reportage about the Fietsambassade, located in De Krook, Ghent.