War is not a game
Belgium 2010-2011

I have just been sent / My call up papers / To leave for war / Before Wednesday evening / Mr President / I don’t want to do this / I’m not on this earth / To kill poor people […]
by Boris Vian, Le Déserteur, 1954 



Ripped open buses, turned over earth, exploded cars and, here and there, overequipped soldiers, rooted to the spot, proudly showing off their heavy weapons. And then suddenly everything comes alive. They crawl, shoot, run. They kill and die. But not for real! 

More than a hundred people met up for a weekend in a paintball club lost in the middle of the Ardennes forest. They have come from The Netherlands, France and Germany in ‘squads’ of ten to play at war. 

A head-on encounter with these dehumanised beings wearing frightening masks and whose bodies merge into the surrounding vegetation. The human condition is strange that it leads certain individuals, who were lucky enough to escape the ravages of war, to play at it with passion in a life size decor.

Thomas Vanden Driessche

Thomas Vanden Driessche was born in Leuven in 1979. Holder of a master's degree in journalism and a master's degree in humanitarian management, he has been working for the United Nation Development program in Morocco, for the Belgian Red Cross and for the International Committee of the Red Cross Delegation to the European Union and the NATO.

Freelance photographer working regularly for the Belgian news magazine Le Vif L'Express since 2010, Thomas joined the collective Out Of Focus in February 2011 and is a nominee photographer of the French Agency Picturetank since December 2011.

His most recent photographic series tackle Contemporary India and its fast growing economy. Thomas is also working on a long-term project on some forms of trivialization of violence in Europe.

Rewarded with a "Parole Photographique" price in 2009 and five PX3 awards in 2010-2011, his work has been recently displayed in Paris (MK2 Library, Gare de l'Est, Galerie Dupon, Festival Circulation(S) #2), in Lille (Transphotographiques 2011) Liège (BIP 2012) and in Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts, The Egg).

In 2011, Thomas was invited to be a jury member of the prestigious "Visa d'or Humanitaire" awards. The french organisation Fetart (for the promotion of the young emergent european photographer) support Thomas work since 2010.

Thomas lives and works for the moment in Brussels.

Weekend portfolio selected by Sam Stourdzé.