Bruidsjapon op de rug gezien aan een balustrade uitkijkend op het altaar van Ons' Lieve heer op Solder, links zit een naakte man, rechts een naakte vrouw 2000 - 2003

Tom van Heel made this photograph which shows a wedding dress looking out onto the altar of Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder. The scene has an intense, dreamlike quality, doesn’t it? What I find so interesting is how the artist uses the architecture to create a feeling of looking, of witnessing. I imagine him setting up the shot, considering the geometry, light and shadow and the uncanny presence of the figures to the left and right. A photograph is a record of a fleeting moment in time. I wonder what van Heel was thinking as he created it. Perhaps he wanted to capture a sense of the sacred, or maybe he was interested in the way that the body can be both present and absent. There's something about the whiteness of the dress against the shadows of the church that just hits home. It reminds me of the haunting photographs by artists like Jeff Wall and Nan Goldin, who transform the ordinary into something profound. It's as though van Heel is inviting us to think about how the past can shape our present.