ZONA

‘Reality is one great spectrum, you can do with it what you want’, says Carl de Keyzer. Starting out as a street photographer searching for the one perfect composition, he now prefers to distil almost theatrical scenes from everyday reality. But his commitment remains the same: getting a handle on great social phenomena such as religion, politics and the news. During Noorderlicht he is showing photographs he made in Russian penal colonies. The colonies are part of the network of ‘correctional work camps’ that were known in the West as the Gulag. Previously used primarily for confining political dissidents, today the camps accommodate convicted criminals. De Keyzer (b. 1958) began the reportage three years ago when he arrived at ‘Re-education colony number 27’ in Krasnoyarsk as a workshop instructor. There he saw the cheerful ironwork of the gate, a small wooden windmill, colourful wall murals – all right up his alley.