Hernie & Plume

Katherine Longly (BE) met Blieke, Nicole and their little dog ‘Plume’ (feather) on a December evening, a few days before Christmas. While she was taking pictures of illuminated caravans in a campsite on the outskirts of Brussels, a man came out of his cabin, and asked her what she was doing there. She apologized, but he followed: “come inside and have a beer with us instead.” They became friends. They then invited her to various wacky parties and told her their amazing life story.

With this book Longly plays with the prejudices that we all tend to have, no matter how much we try to avoid them. The photographer builds her story calmly but purposefully and then reveals the true history of the protagonist. As a reader we are being misled and thus confronted with our own short-sightedness. Longly does this with extremely sincere and entertaining images of this partying couple, which yields a pleasant book and a wise lesson.

A story about social mobility, stereotypes, aging and, most of all, love.

About Katherine Longly
Katherine Longly (1980, BE) lives and works in Brussels and graduated in photography, communications and anthropology. Her projects often start with a very specific question. Behind these questions lies a desire to understand a social phenomenon. And humor is not excluded. Longly pays special attention to actively involve people she works with in the construction of her projects. She also works as a guide and cultural intermediary in various museums, conducts photography and contemporary art workshops, participatory projects and trainings for all types of audiences.