Jan Rosseel’s (b. 1979, Belgium) work is perhaps best described as visual storytelling, sat somewhere between narration and documentation.
Through the use of photographs, video and objects, Rosseel re-contextualises historical events that inherently implicate ideas of memory and the act of remembering; stories such as the series of violent robberies of numerous Belgian supermarkets in 1985 or more recently, the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Such tales ask questions about the reliability of the accounts that we are presented with, and even more so of the reliability of our own memory and brain. Rosseel consciously works as an investigator, using methods of scientific research and journalism to build his own narrative where fact and fiction coexist.
Jan Rosseel studied documentary photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, the Netherlands and Photojournalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus, Denmark. He was the first artist to be awarded a research fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences. His pictures have been published in the New York Times, Le Monde, IMA Magazine, Esquire Russia, L’Echo, De Volkskrant / Volkskrant Magazine, Vrij Nederland, de Morgen, Le Vif, de Standaard / DS Magazine, De Tijd, P/f, PhotoQ, GUP Magazine, Huffington Post and FOAM Magazine. He is a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague and has been guest lecturer at the Master of Photography AKV St. Joost in Breda and MA Photography Luca School of Arts in Brussels.
Portrait by © I. Elfilali
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'One of a Kind'
A 10-year anniversary show with unique pieces 3 Sep - 22 Oct 2022When, in 2012, Narda van 't Veer and Jasper Bode founded The Ravestijn Gallery, they were amongst the few galleries in the Netherlands who felt photography was more than simply...Read more -
Summershow 2020: 'The Salon Show'
in collaboration with Ingeborg Ravestijn Antiques and The Wunderkammer 13 Jun - 22 Aug 2020The Ravestijn Gallery is pleased to announce The Salon Show, created in collaboration with Ingeborg Ravestijn Antiques and The Wunderkammer. The exhibition will show over 80 works from (all) represented...Read more -
'An Archaelogy of Fear'
Jan Rosseel 25 Jan - 7 Mar 2020The Ravestijn Gallery presented Jan Rosseel’s An Archaeology of Fear, a body of work that reflects the artist’s enduring interest in fear’s grip on contemporary society. There has never been...Read more -
FOAM 3H | 'Belgian Autumn; A confabulated history'
Jan Rosseel 27 Jun - 20 Aug 2015Documentary photographer Jan Rosseel (Brussels, 1979) has reconstructed events that took place almost thirty years ago, based on objective information from police reports, files and newspaper clippings as well as...Read more
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Facebook Girl 1/2, 2016
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Facebook Girl 2/2, 2016
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SH K 01, 2016
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SH K 01, 2016
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TT J 01, 2016
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TT J 02, 2016
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TT J 03, 2016
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The revolution has been televised, 2016
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CH 01 - Charlie Hebdo (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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JF 01 James Foley (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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LB 01 - Le Bataclan Paris (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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OB 01 - Osama Bin Laden (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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SH 01 - Execution Saddam Hussein (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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TT 01 Twin Towers NYC (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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IS 01 - IS/ISIS (On the Aesthetics of Violence), 2016
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Plate I, 2020
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Plate II, 2020
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Plate IV, 2020
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Plate V, 2020
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Tokyo I, 2019
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Car, 2019
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Desert I, 2019
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Jet, 2019
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Plants, 2019
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Art Rotterdam 2018
Duo presentation Darren Harvey-Regan / Jan Rosseel 8 - 11 Feb 2018The Ravestijn Gallery presented two artists at Art Rotterdam 2018; Belgian story teller Jan Rosseel and English artist Darren Harvey-Regan. JAN ROSSEEL (BE 1979) Tintin...Read more -
UNSEEN 2016
Duo presentation Scheltens & Abbenes / Jan Rosseel 23 - 25 Sep 2016The Ravestijn Gallery returned for the third year to Unseen Photo Fair’s fifth anniversary edition, this time with two new artists; Dutch still life artists...Read more
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Exhibition Review: Monochromatic
Wenjie (Demi) Zhao, Musée Magazine, April 24, 2023 -
Belgian Artist Jan Rosseel Dissecting the War of Images
Laurence Cornet, Ph Museum Magazine, October 20, 2022 -
An Archaelogy Of Fear: terreur gereduceerd tot beeldtaal
Kees Keijer, Het Parool, January 31, 2020 -
Mister Motley
January 15, 2019 -
Vrij Nederland
September 27, 2016 -
Die Stern
August 10, 2016 -
Belgian Autumn: A Confabulated History
Jan Rosseel, LensCulture, July 10, 2014 -
MET DEZE FOTO'S WILDE DE ZOON VAN EEN BENDE VAN NIJVEL-SLACHTOFFER BELGIË WAKKER SCHUDDEN
John Schoorl, de Volkskrant, September 21, 2013