JACQUES SONCK: Twice

Jacques Sonck is a discrete and introverted artist who portrays our society in a very genuine way. Each and every one of us could end up in front of his lens. Most banal physical appearances as well as peculiar profiles, all genders, skin colours, sizes, religions, shy individuals and fully aware ones; all at once they all sense this moment of strength. Sonck's portraits are the outcome of street encounters, no other appointments in any form are made.

Jacques Sonck makes his subjects feel totally comfortable. He has this rare human gift of being able to approach strangers and ask them to open up to be captured on film. These encounters are furtive and truthful, they come to full bloom in particularly gelatin silver prints.

This new publication was initiated by Jean-Michel Meyers (also the graphic designer of the book) who came up with the idea of focusing on one aspect of Sonck's rich oeuvre, in this case, pairs. All kinds of pairs: couples, friends, twins, relatives, siblings, but in the end it doesn't really matter which link exactly binds them.

In this book we are triggered to know what exactly binds the two individuals, we are secretly fascinated by identical twins, by the sometimes bizarre duos, by the mysterious relations. I'm pleased to invite you to dive into this specific world of binômes within the rich oeuvre of Jacques Sonck.

(Roger Szmulewicz, 2022)