“Zilverbeek” is a long-term project started in 2017. It documents and interprets the story of a stream located in Antwerp, in which silver metal could be recovered from its sludge. Indeed, since the 1920s, the Belgian factory Gevaert has run tons of silver in this stream, its sludge then colored black due to the presence of silver, which earned it the name of Zwarte. gracht (the black channel) or Zilverbeek (the silver stream). In 1927, a supplier to Gevaert invented a system to collect money for his own account.
Fascinated by this story, I gathered historical documents and photographed the factory as well as the stream in present times. In my turn, by using the silver found in this sludge, I developed a technique of silver photo printing. This project mixes documentary investigation and poetic reinterpretation through an experimental photographic practice.