About
Nele Van Canneyt is a visual artist and photographer whose non-staged images evoke a dreamlike world that emerges entirely from reality. Her work explores the tension between observation and imagination, where chance, intuition, and the unspoken play a central role. She photographs primarily in urban environments, both in Belgium and abroad, often at dusk or at night. Her images radiate stillness, a charged silence, and a sense of existential presence.
Van Canneyt is particularly drawn to those elusive moments when reality seems to shift — when the world briefly reveals itself without the artist intervening. Her photographic process is rooted in extended observation, resulting in sequences or series in which new meanings emerge through visual and conceptual interplay. The viewer's gaze is not only directed, but also questioned.
She has exhibited in Belgium and internationally, including at Musea Brugge, Museum Fort Napoleon during the Ostend Photo Biennale, Bozar, War Museum Westfront, Unseen Amsterdam, and the Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie (Canada). In this period she presented her book 'As if the day never existed'. Her solo exhibition Binnenland/Inner Land at the Arentshuis in Bruges marked an important moment in her exploration of Belgian landscapes and interior worlds.
Her work is held in private and public collections, including Musea Brugge, CC De Factorij, and Museum Kortrijk. She received a Premium for Visual Arts of West Flanders and was selected for the Canvascollectie at BOZAR (Center for Fine Arts, Brussels).