Stephan Vanfleteren (1969) is best
known for his probing black and white portraits, but in recent decades
he has also produced a wide range of documentary, artistic and personal
work. From street photography in global cities like New York to the
genocide in Rwanda, from building fronts and shop windows to the
mystical landscapes of the Atlantic Wall, from still lifes to
penetrating portraits.


To mark Vanfleteren's 50th birthday, he is
celebrating with a major retrospective which will occupy the entire
Antwerp Museum of Photography (FOMU, 25 October 2019 - 1 March 2020) and
with this publication Present, in which he
looks back over his fascinating career. "I was there, I was present",
says the photographer, who always feels himself to be both accomplice
and witness.


For Present, Vanfleteren
has taken a generous selection of more than 400 photos from his ample
archive, some of which have become iconic images while others have never
been published before. In extensive texts, he reflects on how his own
work and photography as a genre have evolved over the past decades and
links these developments with a number of major social changes.


This
superbly illustrated book is an impressive overview of Vanfleteren's
work and offers a comprehensive picture of him as a photographer, as an
artist and, above all, as a human being living life with empathy, wonder
and curiosity.


Previous successful publications by Vanfleteren, such as Belgicum, Portret, Atlantic Wall and Façades & Vitrines, have become true collector's items.