Isabelle Pateer’s project ​“Unsettled,” documents the slow collapse of the Belgian Village of Doel. Over time, this riverside town has undergone extensive harbor expansions that have slowly squeezed out the homes and businesses of its residents. Pateer’s camera swings between three main subjects throughout the project- the negative repercussions that continual industrial development has on the land, the village, and the people living in it. Through her eyes, we wander the community that has metamorphosed into a ghost town as its land becomes polluted and inhospitable and its inhabitants are pushed out.

As Pateer photographs Doel’s remaining inhabitants, she chooses to focus on its teenage population. This was a powerful and astute decision. Ideally, teen years are a time for development and for growing potential; a pivotal moment that launches a person into their adult lives. Without explicitly telling us too, Pateer gets the viewer to wonder about these kids’ futures. As I observe these adolescents wandering through their empty town, it is hard to imagine a future with much opportunity. There are no playgrounds, community centers or even stores.

Pateer’s expansive images are beautiful, sparse and mournful. They are quiet vehicles that shuttle us slowly from place to place within the village. To me, it feels like traveling from one shell to another. The interiors we visit have all been gutted. I can’t help but feel that the life force of the land and its people are being drowned out by the persistent flood of industrial ​“progress.”

For better or worse, it feels impossible for me to look at a project these days and not contextualize it within my emotional landscape of the Covid crisis. Sometimes, it feels unfair to look at everything (at least partially) through this lens. On the other hand, it also can bring an unexpected insight.

When I look at the inhabitants of Pateer’s images, I imagine them stuck in a world that is changing around them in ways that they don’t understand. These days, I share that feeling. As I walk my dogs through empty streets, I have the sensation that I am inhabiting the trappings of a past life. Parks are deserted and schools are vacant. And while I know that things will not always be this way, I don’t know which parts of the world will be the same and which will be different. Or simply just no longer there.

- Mia

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