Belgian, 1969
Stephan Vanfleteren’s career began as a staff photographer for the newspaper De Morgen. He continued to contribute to its weekend magazine as a freelancer until 2009.
His radical black and white social documentary work covers the disappearing phenomena of everyday life in his homeland, Belgium. Over the years, Stephan has worked in conflict zones such as Kosovo, Rwanda and Afghanistan. His intense portrait photography captures the essence of humanity in subjects ranging from the ordinary man to top politicians, sports idols and celebrities.
Stephan is a six time winner of the prestigious World Press Photo awards among a number of other international prizes.
He has exhibited in Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Liverpool and Verona.
His books include: Elvis & Presley (Kruse Verlag, 2001) a road trip across America dressed as Elvis Presley with photographer Robert Huber; Flandrien (Mertz, 2005) on the Flemish obsession with cycling; Belgicum (Lannoo 2007) an enigmatic portrayal of Belgium and Portret 1989 2009 (Lannoo 2009).