« My connection with Forges De Clabecq begins with where I live,30km north from Clabecq,in the town of Ninove. My hometown is connected with Les Forges because many flemish workers came from this area.
I remember my first visit to this amazing place very well,a cold sunny day in 2006. I crawled through a broken fence at the agglomeration,and was immediately captured by the wonderfull view of the blast furnaces,the maze of pipelines and conveyor belts,and in general : the scale of this enourmous factory.
When the demolition started at the end of 2007,I decided that I had to document as much as possible,as this historic,unique place would dissapear very soon,so I started a race against time,and the demolition machines.
5 years later,time is running out for Les Forges.Haut Fourneau 1 is gone,HF2’s future is unsure and HF6 is on the edge of destruction. When the last stone has toppled over,I will have spent 800+ hours on site,taken 15000+ photographs and gained an unlimited amount of memories,..at the end,Forges De Clabecq will mean as much to me as it meant to the people who worked there. »
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