--- description: Belgian photographer Cédric Gerbehaye has spent his career documenting intra-country tensions around the world. In his most recent work he turns the camera back on his home country to delve into the very issues he has explored abroad for years. title: Cedric Gerbehaye’s Belgium: A Personal Document of a Country in Flux image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a011720993710c3/698689cfe53abadb564d1f32/gerbehaye_belgium_131.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Cédric Gerbehaye’s Belgium: A Country in Flux by [Elizabeth Herman](/author/elizabeth-herman/) ## Elizabeth Herman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 23, 2012 8:00 AM CUT  The Ritual of the Golden Car ascent during the Ducasse de Mons festival. The Ritual of the Golden Car ascent during the Ducasse de Mons festival.Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU by [Elizabeth Herman](/author/elizabeth-herman/) ## Elizabeth Herman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 23, 2012 8:00 AM CUT Photographer Cédric Gerbehaye has spent the past nine years working on long-term documentary projects, often in underreported regions including [South Sudan](http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2019454,00.html "undefined") and [Democratic Republic of Congo](http://www.congoinlimbo.com "undefined") (DRC). A project in the latter country, which opened Gerbehaye’s eyes to the long and conflicted relationship the DRC has with its former colonial occupier, eventually led him to turn his lens back home, to Belgium. In June 2010, Gerbehaye’s own country fell into turmoil and transition when the two leading political parties in the country – the New Flemish Alliance and the Socialist Party – were unable to reach a consensus on a coalition to form a new government. Belgium broke the record for being a nation without a government for a consecutive period of time, clocking in at 541 days before a new Prime Minister was appointed in December 2011\. It was a period of immense political and social tension for the people of Belgium—a country comprised mainly of two distinct cultural groups. “The idea of a separation of the country was more present than ever,” Gerbehaye said. “Belgium is a state assembling two people which initially have nothing in common—they speak different languages, they do not have the same economy and vote in opposite ways.” The Flemish-speaking north and French-speaking south largely keep to their separate sides, differentiated by a linguistic border that slices the country from east to west. Seeing the issues he had spent so many years exploring abroad bubble to the surface at home, Gerbehaye set out to document these two communities and the friction that is created from people who separate themselves as distinct groups that gather together under the same flag. The resulting series — simply titled _Belgium —_ digs into the tensions inherent in the mixing of these communities and to the new identities that emerge from such co-mingling. The first chapter of the work, which was completed during this spring and summer, was produced for the [International Festival Photoreporter](http://www.festival-photoreporter.fr/?page%5Fid=17 "undefined") in Saint Brieuc and will be on view from Oct. 19 to Nov. 11. Weaving together images of workers on the brink of losing their jobs with countrymen engaged in religious traditions, Gerbehaye sought to convey the social and political dynamics within the small nation’s borders. But _Belgium_ also serves as an exploration of physical space, and the photographer zig-zagged the country in order to document steelworkers in the French-speaking region and fishermen in the Flemish-speaking north. For work grappling with what it means to be Belgian, viewing the country from its outer limits was key. “For the fishermen, it was a way of speaking of a job that is disappearing now, but it’s also a way to give some limits to the work, to give a border,” Gerbehaye said. “They are in the sea, at the border of the country, on the coast of the country.” Gerbehaye does not attempt to make a definitive comparison of his country’s two linguistic regions. Rather, he seeks through his photos of Catholic devotees, night revelers, and farmers — ordinary Belgians living their everyday lives — to create a “partial and personal inventory of the human territory.” [_Cédric Gerbehaye_](http://www.agencevu.com/photographers/photographer.php?id=214 "undefined") _is a photographer with VU. LightBox previously featured Gerbehaye’s photographs of_ [_Birth and Death in Sudan_](http://lightbox.time.com/2011/07/07/birth-and-death-in-southern-sudan/#1 "undefined")_._ ![All photographs taken in Belgium in 2012
Albert Tower in Charleroi, located on the French side of the linguistic border. ](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bb82249013b87bb/6987a09ce20a877051a873ad/gerb19121-2012cl01-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp) All photographs taken in Belgium in 2012 Albert Tower in Charleroi, located on the French side of the linguistic border. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Penitents' procession on Good Friday in Lessines, also on the French side of the linguistic border. During this symbolic march, the entire city is in total darkness. Marching to the sound of drums and rattles, penitents escort the recumbent statue of Christ. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Fabrice Melidona, 51, a hydraulics specialist worker at ArcelorMittal's Coke Works in Ougrée-Seraing, which lies just south of the linguistic border, refreshes himself before going home. Because of an announced closure, he will soon be unemployed. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Aerial gas pipeline and workers' houses in Charleroi. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Jean Pierre, a fisherman in the North Sea since the age of 15, aboard the ship Asannat which passes along the Belgian coast on the Flemish side of the country at night. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  A 1970's Chevrolet El Camino makes a "burn" during a gathering of U.S. cars in Horion-Hozémont, located within the Belgian town of Liege, which lies just south of the linguistic border. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Kevin Joway, 24, a mechanic at ArcelorMittal's cokeworks in Ougrée-Seraing. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  During the popular festival called Ducasse de Mons or Doudou, people take part in a ritual known as the combat of Saint George, or "Lumeçon," which is supposed to bring luck for the coming year. During the ritual Saint George, which symbolizes good, fights a dragon, which symbolizes evil. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Policemen hold back the crowd in the rue des Clercs during the popular Ducasse de Mons, or Doudou, festival in Mons, located in French Belgium. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  The Ritual of the Golden Car ascent during the Ducasse de Mons festival. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  A drunk man in a bar in Ham-Sur-Heure, located in the heart of the French-speaking south. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Lovers in Grâce-Hollogne, just outside the city of Liege and directly south of the linguistic border. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  A young woman attends a Sainte-Rolende march in Gerpinnes, in the French-speaking south. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Unloading cocoa bags from Nigeria in Antwerp harbor, in the Flemish-speaking north. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Coke Works employees leave ArcelorMittal's site in Ougrée-Seraing. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Rue des verriers, Marchienne-au-Pont in Charleroi. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  An exhausted worker in the canteen of the ArcelorMittal's Coke Works. He just heard about the potential closure of the site. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Jackets of steel factory workers in Ougrée-Seraing. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU  Sylvain, a son and grandson of farmers and stockbreeders, runs in the family farm in Laneuville-au-Bois, in southeast Belgium near the border shared with Luxembourg. Cédric Gerbehaye—Agence VU ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3792679/cedric-gerbehayes-belgium-a-country-in-flux/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3792679/cedric-gerbehayes-belgium-a-country-in-flux/"},"headline":"Cédric Gerbehaye’s Belgium: A Country in Flux","datePublished":"2012-10-23T08:00:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:56.984Z","description":"Belgian photographer Cédric Gerbehaye has spent his career documenting intra-country tensions around the world. 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