Joren de Weerdt

Joren De Weerdt (Belgium, 1989) was awarded his bachelor’s degree in photography

last summer by the Narafi in Brussels. His work, which can be classed as

architectural photography and reportage, is often about simple, everyday life.

In Pigeon Loft he takes a nostalgic look at a vanishing race: the pigeon fancier. At

one time there were many practitioners of this now dying art, but due to a lack of

young blood their numbers are gradually declining. Saddened by this and plagued

by all sorts of technological innovations, the remaining pigeon fanciers spend their

twilight years lovingly caring for their birds and thinking back nostalgically to their

glory days. De Weerdt visited the oldest generation of pigeon fanciers and photographed them, together with their precious birds and their self-built pigeon lofts. Each pigeon loft is unique: the pigeon fancier usually builds it himself, with blood,  sweat and tears, and above all with lots of creativity. In the none-too-distant future both these lofts and their owners will slowly but surely disappear.