Yūgen (幽玄) is a Japanese aesthetic concept. The word combines yū (幽), suggesting depth, obscurity or something hidden, with gen (玄), referring to mystery or what lies beyond easy understanding. Together, they point to a beauty that cannot be fully seen or explained.

YŪGEN Itakes that idea as a starting point. The photographs move between showing and withholding, often leaving part of the image unresolved. A face disappears, a body becomes shape, light reveals one thing and obscures another.

At the same time, the images look for moments when something internal comes to the surface — not necessarily something that can be named, but a presence that becomes visible for a moment in posture, expression or gesture.

The photographs are not meant to explain themselves. What matters is what remains after looking, including what was never shown.

Selected works from YŪGEN I are available as limited edition prints.
View available prints →

Bijin(美人) is a Japanese word for a beautiful person, traditionally a woman. The project started from a simple question: what makes a woman beautiful?

Over the course of the series, I photographed women with very different looks, ages and personalities. Rather than searching for a single definition of beauty, BIJINbecame an exploration of how differently it can appear in front of a camera — sometimes immediately, sometimes in an expression, a gesture or simply in the way someone occupies the frame.

The photographs were never intended to provide an answer. Together, they form a collection of individual encounters and a reminder that beauty becomes considerably harder to define the closer you look.

The project was presented on 24 March 2023 at L'Avenir Site in Lier, Belgium.

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