Beautiful in all its abstraction, but highly repulsive in origin: this is the aerial view from a toxic lake in Romania. During the late seventies one of Europe’s biggest copper mines was founded in Romania. But copper mining comes with a heavy toll: the production process creates an enormous amount of waste. Through a pipe system this waste has been directed to a nearby valley, until it completely flooded it. The mineral rich slurry reacts with rain and spring water, creating acid & cyanide. It looks like a painting but it is pure poison. A modern-day toxic wasteland.
Reginald Van de Velde (Belgium, 1975) scouts the unknown & unseen. As a wanderer of wastelands he journeys all over the world, trying to capture the momentum of splendour still undisturbed by the turmoil and temptations of modern society. He is a vagabond for lost beauty, a chronicler of forgotten magnificence.
