TESTAMENT TO YOUTH

Born in the Flemish region of Belgium in 1971, Willy Vanderperre initially studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp before shifting his focus to photography. At the Academy, famous for the Antwerp Six – Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee – Vanderperre first encountered the friends who would become his closest collaborators: Raf Simons, Olivier Rizzo, and Peter Philips. The rural heart from which Vanderperre hails is a far cry from the world of fashion, and this forms the focal point of his creative sphere: echoes of a strict religious upbringing and a strong connection to ancient Flemish art transform into a sharp simplicity in his work. He learns as a teenager the sensation of loneliness, that of being an outsider, an experience later revisited in his directorial debut with Naked Heartland in 2016, a film in which three lonely teenagers inhabit spaces steeped in Catholicism and conservatism. Today, among the most important campaigns signed by the Belgian photographer are those of Raf Simons, Christian Dior, Dior Homme, Jil Sander, and Prada. Vanderperre’s work is a blend of current yet nostalgic frames, highlighting Vanderperre’s reflections on youth subcultures, isolation, and the redemptive power of pop culture; a chorus that echoes throughout his career.