New Morning in the Old World
Contemporary Europe is rife with signs. History evolves in layers that rest on the ruins of the past; on ideology and myths. On traumas, humanism, and democracy. On law and order. On colonialism, slavery, and genocide. The landscape around us appears dramatically different to each person who sees it, and the future of Europe lies in the gaps between these perceptions.
Christian Belgaux
Christian Belgaux, born in 1985, is a photojournalist and regular photographer for the national newspaper Morgenbladet. He also conducts personal artistic and documentary projects and has published several books, including Dette året (This Year, with Sofie Amalie Klougart), where 53 leading photographers created works about the covid pandemic in Norway, and Peter Wessel Zapffe. Åpninger i landskapet, a selection of photographs by philosopher Zapffe.
With the project NEW MORNING IN THE OLD WORLD, Belgaux wants to document what he calls Europe’s identity crisis: the upheavals that are happening, day by day, in a time characterized by changing ideological currents; attacks on institutions, legislation and democracy; and a fragmented media reality.
In the period between Brexit and the war in Ukraine, Belgaux traveled through 19 countries. With a small pocket camera and snapshot aesthetics, he captured glimpses of a European reality, describing the images as a mosaic of what Europe is today.