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Born in 1989 in Brussels, Nicolas Dykmans, graduated in literature from the University of Liège in 2017 and has been teaching ever since. His exploration of photography is relatively recent, as he only began shooting in 2022.
In the past two years, Nicolas has documented a wide variety of subjects, including prisons, religion, sex conventions, the Mardi Gras traditions of South Louisiana, the European punk scene, and the Roma community of Macedonia. He also practices street photography nearly daily, with a particular interest in the dynamics of tourism.
His latest work, “You will not forget these flowers”, focuses on the Ukrainian population unfit for combat, capturing their attempts to maintain a semblance of normality amidst the traumatic context of war.

Hi Nicolas! It’s a pleasure to sit down with you. First question that I always ask. How does a regular day look like for you in Belgium?
Nicolas: I don’t really have regular days. I work as a lecturer a few times a week but other than that nothing really binds me to a routine. If I don’t have anything to do and I don’t feel too lazy or discouraged by the gross Belgian weather, I’ll go walk around in the city and flashing my camera at people. Otherwise I spend my time procrastinating, reading, scrolling on my phone and hating myself for it or working on my photos.

I’m curious, growing up, what kind of kid were you? What did you enjoy doing, and how did you spend your time?
Nicolas: I was a very goofy and happy kid. Then my parents moved to a very normative suburb and I got bullied because of my goofiness. It fucked up my self confidence for a while. I was playing alone a lot and played a lot with my playmobiles. I don’t know if you can really call it play though. I was more like creating tableaus with them. Once they were done I would just leave them like this for a while and then start again with another composition. This is how I played. I also watched a shit ton of movies (VHS and later DVD’s that I’d rent with my pocket money).

So you actually started your photography journey pretty recently, back in 2022. What sparked that interest? And how did you get introduced to it ?
Nicolas: It was an early midlife crisis thing. I teach literature in an art school and decided to become a student in another art school. Just for fun. Photography seemed the easiest option because there wasn’t really any prerequisite. I got in and then started to get hooked up. It sound cliché but it became an obsession. I love the way it gives me a reason to interact with virtually anybody, or to get places that are normally off limits (prison, war zones, etc.)

Alright, so what made you want to start documenting the streets and various subcultures?
Nicolas: What I like best is to have a subject (like prison, sex conventions, Mardi Gras, etc.) The street is always there when there’s nothing else. It’s like photography workout. When I have nothing else to do I just go on the street and shoot people. It doesn’t really tell a story or anything but it’s fun and I see it as exercise.

With that in mind… You’ve photographed an incredibly diverse range of subjects, from prisons to sex conventions to Mardi Gras traditions. How do you choose the themes you document?
Nicolas: It’s a mix of chance and personal interest or involvement. For the South Louisiana Mardi Gras for example, I used to live there in 2017. I had started a PhD in Lafayette and I had dropped out a few months later. The place was incredibly photogenic, with the old gloomy sycamore trees, the wooden shacks, the gritty people, etc. When I started photography I thought back on that period and felt like I had missed out not having a camera. So I decided to go back and document.
The sex convention I had no knowledge of until a friend who’s a dominatrix invited me to one knowing about my interest for the fringes. I discovered a world of delightful obscenity, vulgarity and wholesomeness. It was like a photographic goldmine. And the best thing is that no other photographers was on it (which is a very rare thing in photography).

Is there a common thread that ties together these subjects in your body of work?
Nicolas: The fringes of humanity. I have a lot of interest in them. Today people often confuse an artistic interest in something with the condoning of the same thing. I gave a class on Nabokov’s Lolita last year because I thought it was important to teach my students that art’s realm was everything that is part of the human experience and that it is ok to lift the stone to observe the bugs – metaphorically speaking. I think Mary Ellen Mark’s white supremacist series is her strongest work and I’m quite at ease with the fact that I would love to cover a KKK meeting for example.

What challenges do you face when photographing communities or events that might be difficult to access or sensitive in nature?
Nicolas: It’s sometimes uncomfortable. While it is fun and endearing to gain the trust of an old Ukrainian lady and take nice pictures of her, it’s less pleasant to have to gain the trust of a Neo nazi murderer in prison. You basically have to play a role and go against yourself a little bit. It’s quite uncomfortable sometimes.

Which of these projects has had the most profound impact on you personally, and why?
Nicolas: On my personality I don’t know but on my work I think Ukraine. It has been very intense. I have learned a lot in terms of my work and how to navigate with people and I have gained clarity over what drives me. I like to document human life and for my photos to reflect the whole spectrum of it. From the very good to the very bad.

How does your background in literature influence the way you see and capture the world through your lens?
Nicolas: I think my interest in literature and photography comes from the same place. I like to see humans presented in an interesting way. Often when you see people on the street they seem banal or boring. But with a good novel or a good photograph anybody can become bigger.
As a teacher, how do you balance your professional life with your passion for photography?
Nicolas: As I said, I don’t work so much as a lecturer. It gives me ample time for photography.

Do you feel your late start in photography has given you a unique perspective compared to others who have been practicing for years?
Nicolas: It’s hard to say. What I can say for sure though is that I have reverse fomo about it. I really wish I had started in my early twenties for example. A career takes a lot of time to get into place and I would have liked to do all the mistakes I did at 32 when I was 20. That would have saved me a lot of time.

Alright, so you have a special focus on tourism. What draws you to this topic?
Nicolas: This is not very original. I’m a huge fan and a humble follower of Martin Parr. I used to work in a beer shop on the Grand Place of Brussels when I was a student. Every day I would have to spend my time with tourists from all over the world. They’re ridiculous but touching at the same time. They behave like flocks of animals, they wear humiliating outfits, they consume kitsch and get overcharged for cliché food but they have a vulnerability that makes it impossible to just hate them, even as a native from a big touristy city. So I try to render the inherent humor of the phenomenon with my photos. But again, it’s been done by MP before and it will never be topped.

How do you capture the essence of tourism without relying on clichés?
Nicolas: I don’t claim I do capture the essence of tourism and I think sometimes clichés are ok. It’s fun to play with them.
Do you think tourism changes the character of the places you document? If so, how does that influence your photography?
Nicolas: While I don’t have hate for tourists as individuals I have a problem with mass tourism as a phenomenon. Ukraine was refreshing because of that. There is no tourism there for obvious reasons. A tourist is basically a constant client. A client gets fucked over, gets snubbed or flattered but nobody is genuine with a client. The more touristy the place you go, the more of a client you automatically become. Before taking up photography I had nearly renounced travelling because of that. And still now, I am more interested in spending a month taking photos of an industrial city in let’s say Moldova than visiting the Taj Mahal or the historical center of Lisbon.

So what do you look for when you’re out looking for your next motif to capture?
Nicolas: Anything that I find interesting and photogenic basically. Communities that are outside the norms. People that I can’t understand are what fascinate me.
How important is authenticity in your work? And can a picture still be good, if it does’t have any?
Nicolas: I don’t really know how to respond to this. We’d have to define authenticity. I think photography doesn’t really have to do with authenticity most of the time. You freeze a moment with a certain angle to make it look serene or dramatic or funny while the second before or after it was extremely banal. The same when you make people pose for you. It is authentic and inauthentic at the same time, or in-between. I don’t know.

What makes photography your prefered medium of expressing yourself?
Nicolas: I like how accessible it is. I can do it anywhere any time. Its possibilities are endless and it’s a very mobile kind of art practice. It’s an occasion to go places and to meet people. I’m not a very patient person and I don’t think I could ever spend hundred of hours in front of a canvas painting fine details. I like the immediacy of photography. I also very much like that it has to do with luck and you can’t control everything. It makes it very exciting.

Your latest project focuses on Ukrainians who remain behind amidst the war. What inspired you to tell this story?
Nicolas: Initially my idea was to go to Ukraine to photograph the war itself. I thought I could finesse my way in without a press card. In the meantime I took photos of the regular people. Teenagers at metal shows, old women in markets, families at the beach, that sort of things. As I was asking left and right to get a press card or some kind of access everybody told me to just keep doing what I was doing; every journalist in Ukraine covers the combats, few show the daily life. So that’s what I kept doing. I went to Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and the Donbas and I tried to cover as much as I could of what it is to live as a civilian in a country torn by war.

What has been the most emotionally challenging aspect of documenting this traumatic context?
Nicolas: The stories the people I met told me. Like this guy Vlad. Vlad is a pro skateboarder who was well on his way for a promising career (sponsored by Thrasher and everything). Then the war broke out and everything stopped. He now lives in constant fear of being arrested in the street and sent to combat like it happened to his best friend who was killed a week after he got in.
This other one from Mariupol and who is in her early 20’s told me she had to leave everything she owned behind when the Russians arrived and never saw her home again. Now all of her male friends are either dead or in a Russian prison.

How do you balance showing the harsh realities of war with moments of resilience or normalcy in your subjects’ lives?
Nicolas: For this project I decided to focus on the latter. The harsh realities of war are in the background. I wanted to show the way humanity always finds it way. I find this quite beautiful.
What do you hope viewers take away from this project?
Nicolas: I hope it bears witness of a people that is rich in its humanity. When I was a kid and often still today, what I see of war in the news is faceless crowds of human misery crying over bodies and rubbles. Of course it’s a reality and it is important to show how destructive war is. But I think if we only show it like this we lose the opportunity to show the humanity of the people that are being crushed by war.

Do you see photography as a tool for activism or change, especially in the context of a project like this?
Nicolas: I’m usually quite defiant of activist art. I think art should not tell people what to do or think. I think good art is art that is up to interpretation. If what the artist wants to say is too clearly visible I do not find it very interesting.
Are there any themes or subjects you haven’t yet explored but would like to?
Nicolas: Many! Cults, white supremacists, drug dealers, christian zealots… Basically anything that I don’t understand.

What advice would you give to someone starting photography later in life, as you did?
Nicolas: To be bold. To do what needs to be done to get the photo he or she wants. Not to be afraid of people. Most of them take it well. You just need to have a nice attitude about it. Smile, compliment them and they’ll let you take their picture in most cases.
This is not very specific for latecomers but if I have to give advice to the boomers it would be to not do the boomer thing and get a Leica from the start. Do not hide inexperience behind gear. Start with a shitty camera. You can get a Leica two years after people you don’t know started complimenting your work. That’s the rule.

Can you tell me about some of your favorite memories from being out shooting in the field?
Nicolas: Some shoots are more fun than others. It doesn’t necessarily means better photos. The prison shoot was not fun but I like the photos I took. The best is when you get both fun and good photos. Louisiana was perfect for that. I really vibed with it and Americans are really easy to photograph. They’re good clients as we say. If you joke with them and call them « buddy » they’ll do anything you want. I managed to get inside this crazy Trump-enthusiast biker home by pretending to be a gun enthusiast myself. After that the guy drove me to my car on his Harley, it was very cool.

Other than the camera and lens. Are there any essential items that you always bring with you when shooting?
Nicolas: My flash and sometimes a flash trigger. I nearly alway work with flash. Sometimes I think I should try something else but I always get back to very quick. I think I should try to just not bring it with me sometimes. Develop something else. But I have time, I’m still young ! (Lol)

Alright Nicolas, now to something totally different…. In a parallel universe who would you be? and what would you be doing?
Nicolas: In a parallel universe I would be more patient so I could be a painter or a writer. I love painting. I particularly admire Peter Doig and Danier Richter today. I like how they’re going back to figurative but with an eeriness to it. Painting very large format of very weird and creepy subjects. All of it with unreal colors. There is an element of liminal spaces to some of them. Like the work of Todd Hido in photography.
I would also find it very cool to be able to write dense novels that are both fun to read and very deep and hard work in an analytical perspective, just like a David Lynch movie. David Foster Wallace is the best for this. By the way I particularly recommend the essay he wrote on David Lynch.

Can you tell me a story about a time when a connection with someone had a big impact on you?
Nicolas: I think Vlad the skateboarder in Odesa was the most impactful. I could really have seen myself doing a long term thing on him. He’s very kind but also tortured and conflicted. His story is very sad and the conflicting emotions that he’s dealing with are heartbreaking. He also looks amazing. Long vermilion hair. Tattoos everywhere. Intense and a little crazy eyes. He’s like a novel character.

What qualities do you find most important in the people you choose to spend time with?
Nicolas: To be fun and a little crazy. But also kind. What touched me in Ukraine was the kindness of the people. In Western Europe there is often a layer of sarcasm over everything. I think it came from the cynicism of the 80’s. Postmodernism and systematic irony. You can never really let your guard down. Me pointing it out doesn’t mean I’m exempt from it. I’m certainly a man of my time. But in Ukraine and other post-soviet countries I didn’t find this. They have a different history and they didn’t get touched by the ultra liberalism of Thatcher and Reagan the way we did. I don’t think they’re a kinder people but they’re certainly less ironical about everything and it makes discussions very pleasant.

Anybody you look up to?
Nicolas: Many. Diane Arbus is my all time favorite. Every time I look at her pictures I’m amazed. I think she would have loved been good friends with David Lynch. I also love Mary Ellen Mark, Chris Verene that I was lucky enough to meet on a recent trip to NYC, Anders Petersen, Nan Goldin, Bruce Davidson, Koudelka… The list is long.
What motivates you?
Nicolas: To make photos that I’m proud of and – I am not gonna lie – the hierarchical validation of others. Validation from photographers that I admire is the best, then of other photographers, then of normal people (lol).

How would you describe a perfect day?
Nicolas: A day in which I took a few very good photos.
Alright Nicolas. I always ask these two questions at the end of an interview. The first is. What’s your favorite movie(s) and why?
Nicolas: Mulholland Drive. I think it’s as close to perfect as it gets. The aesthetic and the score of this movie is sublime. The way it plays with Hitchockian or Bergmanian references, the nightmarish – diffracted way of telling a story that you can’t understand in a traditional sense but still understand in a more feeling way. All of that makes it unequalled in my book. This movie is an endless source of pleasure for me.

The second is. What song(s) are you currently listening to the most right now?
Nicolas: I’ve been listening to a lot of Yegor Letov recently. It is not a popular thing to say in Ukraine because anything Russian is triggering for them but I love his music. The lyrics are harsh and poetic. The voice and the acoustic guitar conveys an array of complex emotions that themselves echo the difficult period of the fall of the Soviet Union. It is very powerful.