As part of my Independent Study, I was tasked with researching a photographer on both Magnum Photos (www.magnumphotos.com) and Lens Culture (www.lensculture.com) that I felt both inspired by and connected to. After an extensive search, I found Bieke Depoorter, whose work really resonated with me for many reasons.

Depoorter, 33, is a Belgian photographer, regularly exploring themes such as relationships, life experiences and accidental photography. The foundation of her work is the relationship she creates with her subjects and how they develop; her two most famous projects are comprised of images of her encounters with strangers in their homes, as she travelled across Russia and America. Depoorter likes to question the medium – for example, following the aforementioned trips, she claims they were an opportunity to explore her status as an ‘outsider’ in both cultural and photographic context.

Link to Bieke Depoorter’s work: www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/bieke-depoorter/