Photographer
Mark De Roeck, shaped by decades of practice across graphic design, advertising, and photography in Flanders and Brussels, approaches the image as a quiet act of construction. Rooted in visual storytelling yet resistant to the obvious narrative, his work draws from the legacy of the New Topographic Movement, where landscapes are distilled, flattened, and reimagined. The familiar dissolves into compositions of planes and lines, hovering somewhere between document and painting. His images invite stillness—an attentive pause in which the overlooked and the ephemeral begin to surface.
His affinity with the image emerged during his early studies in graphic design and advertising, where photography quickly became his primary language. Together with friends, he co-founded a studio that became a site of experimentation, particularly in the nuanced orchestration of light in black-and-white work. He later moved into advertising as an art director, collaborating with photographers across disciplines—from fashion to architecture, from interiors to packaging. These encounters deepened his sensitivity to atmosphere, sharpening his instinct for how light can shape not just form, but perception itself.
Travel became another catalyst. Journeys through Central and North America and Australia expanded his visual vocabulary, gradually shifting his gaze. Landscapes were no longer backdrops but constructed spaces; subjects no longer isolated, but embedded within their environments. In this interplay, chance and intention converge. De Roeck’s work now moves along that fragile edge—where the unexpected, the slightly offbeat, or the quietly surreal reveals itself within the ordinary. Through a precise yet poetic use of light, he continues to create images that resonate as fleeting constellations of place, presence, and mood.
2019 - 2021 Specialization in Photography – Academy of Fine Arts Mol, Antwerp
2015 - 2019 Photography – Academy of Fine Arts Mol, Antwerp
1979 - 1983 A1 Graphic Design / Applied Graphics – St-Lucas Brussels, Brabant, Belgium
1974 - 1978 HM Advertising – St-Lucas Brussels, Brabant, Belgium
