“It is stunning to see how very few people actually know how to read a photograph — something that goes beyond ‘level 1.’” —De Keyzer

Carl De Keyzer was born in 1958 in Kortrijk, Belgium. He started his career as a freelance photographer in 1982, while supporting himself as an instructor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (from 1982 to 1989). During that time, his interest in the work of other photographers led him to co-found and co-direct the XYZ-Photography Gallery.

In 1994, De Keyzer became a full member of Magnum Photos, where he began taking photos for editorials of global and social issues. Being a member of this organization, his work was exposed to a large audience and also exhibited amongst other photographers that were interested in the same social concerns. As a photojournalist he amassed quite a number of photography collections (nearly all belonging to large series) that depict the lives of people through events — from presidential elections and prison camp environments, to a broad-scaled topic such as the expansion of Western culture throughout Europe.

De Keyzer’s work often starts from the premise that “disaster has already struck,” and that everywhere infrastructures are on the verge of collapse in overpopulated communities. His imagery is not dependent on isolated pictures but relies on accumulation and interdependence with text, often taken from his own travel diaries. His gift is to pick out the kind of societies and situations that are both symptomatic and of wide interest to the public: the people and culture of India, the collapse of the USSR, and more recently, the power and politics in the contemporary world.

In many of De Keyzer’s photographs there is a “snap shot” quality to the images. However, if the viewer took more than a fleeting glance, they would quickly see that every photograph has an unexpected depth that often reflects contrasting ideas. His work has this snap shot reality with a fine art twist, but that is not De Keyzer’s only talent, he also has an amazing skill at capturing the stark simplicity in many subjects. I.e. photographs with a refine, high-quality studio look — yet, the photos feel unplanned as if the Subject were completely unaware of De Keyzer’s presence as a photographer.

His work has been exhibited regularly in European galleries, and he is the recipient of a large number of awards including the Book Award from the Arles Festival, the W. Eugene Smith Award (1990) and the Kodak Award (1992).

In addition to his personal work and social projects for Magnum, he also maintains a commercial portfolio which includes work for Diesel and Coca-Cola.