Ria Verhaeghe

For the past three decades, Verhaeghe has collected images from international newspapers, and cataloged them in an image bank which now contains over 60,000 entries. This ongoing database encompasses an enormous range of subjects, and is articulated around three idiosyncratic themes: ”Fusion”, “Mindwave” and “Human Interest”.

These categories often overlap, as they capture fragments of a complex reality in constant motion. Verhaeghe is interested in how we build our understanding of the world from these glimpses, circulated through mass media. By offering subjective pathways through her enormous archive, Verhaeghe invites the viewer to experience the images not only as information to be processed, but as windows into a world to be sensed, felt, as it once was by the creator(s) and/or subject(s) of the image.

This archive is a life’s work in itself, but it is also the “matrix” for other pieces: Verhaeghe transforms some of the found images through various mediums including painting, embroidery, sculpture, and video, reflecting her sensitive approach to stories which, as they enter the realm of mass media, are often emptied of their emotion.

Verhaeghe’s work has been the subject of solo and duo exhibitions including at Be-Part (Waregem, BE); Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Ghent, BE); Galerie C. De Vos (Aalst, BE); Fundació Antoni Tàpies (Barcelona, ES); FOMU – Photo Museum Antwerp (BE); and Huis van Herman Teirlinck (Beersel, BE). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as the National Bank of Belgium (Brussels, BE); Museum Dr. Guislain (Ghent, BE); Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, BE); Cultuurcentrum Brugge (BE); the 5th Biennale of Moscow (RU); the 18th Biennale of Sydney (AU); the Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin (FR/DE); and many more. Her first monograph, Provisoria, was published by Art Paper Editions in 2025.

Submitted by Harlan Levey Projects