Through photography, I research different aspects of spatial perception. Our notion of where we are is always related to the meaning that we apply to our environment. Being lost means to have no reference to interpret the visible environment. For a number of years, I have focused on two major subject matters: the hidden space and the transforming space.
The hidden space behind the wall is literally a negative space. It is an extension of the public space. Offering views of hidden spaces, in relation to the accessible space in the public domain, can intensify the perception of our visible reality.
Construction work makes many hidden spaces visible and turns the entire public space into a temporal “hidden” space. A space under construction is, in a strange way, neglected. As the construction work is done, and the spaces are opened to the public again, it is hard to recognize the lustrous spaces in the photographs of the stark empty rooms.
Before I work on this subject matter, I look for a personal angle to approach the space. In this process, photographs are taken that become an independent exploration of spaces and experiments in how to represent a space.
A photograph of a space, to me, must reflect the experience of really being in that space, in that space. To realize this, I pay much attention to the relation between light and space, or how light defines space. I stay in a room for a long time to see how the light changes throughout the day. Using multiple exposures on one photograph, I combine natural light and artificial light. Building up the image in different layers of light, I lose control over the process of the image-making and go by intuition. Paying as much attention to the light as possible, the photograph becomes a tribute to overlooked and neglected spaces that are around us everywhere: “just one wall - or a few layers of paint - away.

Jan Theun van Rees