Garage Stills & Fringe Nature | Jacquie-Maria Wessels
Garage Still #10/2014 Amsterdam, the Netherlands. © Jacquie Maria Wessels
Written by Hanna Agro
Copy Edited by Melis Ozdemir
Dutch photographer Jacquie Maria Wessels delves into the diminishing significance of "old-fashioned garages" in her exhibition titled Garage Stills and Fringe Nature, currently on display at the Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium.
This captivating collection showcases a fascinating combination of grease stains and rusty metal, serving as a tribute to a bygone era when cars and people worked together in harmony.
The exhibition derives its name from Wessels's desire to examine the impact of technological advancements in automotive machinery on traditional human-centred processes.
Wessels specializes in studying car repair garages from various countries around the world. The exhibit includes garages from Turkey, Cambodia, Russia, Poland, Morocco, Italy, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Tokyo.
The collection features a recurring theme of "the human touch" woven throughout various photographs. Wessels wanted to emphasize how humans carry out craftsman work and how that acts as the antithesis of mass production - something we are increasingly leaning into as a society.
Garage Still #03/2015 Amsterdam, the Netherlands © Jacquie Maria Wessels
The piece above titled "Garage Still #03" depicts a tool fixture from a car repair garage in Amsterdam.
Although the fixture is not identifiable, it resembles a collection of horns. The emphasis placed on them as the main subject brings to life the sounds of a car garage without identifying any human interaction.
Yet the dust on the objects in the background, the mix of colors present in the supposed horns, and the tangled wires they are attached to suggest that a human is behind the intricate mess of a repair that was taking place.
Garage Still #04.8/2015 Zaandam, the Netherlands © Jacquie Maria Wessels - Fringe Nature #10.2/2019 Amsterdam, the Netherlands © Jacquie Maria Wessels
This piece above combines automotive repair work with nature and beauty. The colors inherent in the tarp, as the weights anchoring it in place, harmoniously correspond with the imagery of an adjacent tree.
The combination of those two images draws a line of continuity between human labor and the delicate beauty of nature. The two images reference beauty, imperfection, delicacy, and a sense of hard work.
All of those themes speak to what Wessels is trying to explore. How hard human work can be viewed in a positive light compared to the prevailing promotion of mass production as the better option.
In guiding us toward that point of view with her images, Wessels pushes viewers to ask important questions about the future trajectory of human-driven work.
Garage Still #04/2018 Tokyo, Japan © Jacquie Maria Wessels
