Zoë Baert

Multidisciplinary Artist and Photographer

“THE GAP BETWEEN THE WORK YOU IMAGINE AND THE WORK YOU ARE CURRENTLY ABLE TO MAKE WILL ONLY BECOME SMALLER BY CONTINUING TO PRACTISE, PLAY, EXPERIMENT, AND TAKE RISKS”

Hi Zoë, how has life been treating you?

Life has been treating me well. Summer is always a moment for me to slow down, spend more time on the things I genuinely enjoy, and return to personal projects and ideas that may have been waiting in the background. It gives me the space to reflect, experiment, and reconnect with why I love creating in the first place. So right now, life feels good. I feel grateful for the time and freedom to explore.

You’re invested in a lot of different art forms. Has that always been in your nature?

Yes, I think it has always been in my nature. I have loved dancing, drawing, taking photographs, writing, and exploring different forms of art for as long as I can remember. More than being attached to one specific medium, I simply love expressing myself and creating.

For me, creativity is not something separate from life. It is a way of moving through it. My mind can be very busy, and every art form gives that energy somewhere different to go. Writing helps me give shape to my thoughts. Photography allows me to capture what catches my eye and holds my attention. Dance is how my body responds to music, emotions, and energy.

All of those things are incredibly grounding to me. They give me an outlet, but they also make me feel more present and more grateful to be alive. I can revisit a thought through writing, a moment through photography, or a feeling through movement. Each medium lets me understand and express another part of myself.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from many different places, but music is probably one of the biggest ones. Music has always had the power to create entire worlds in my head. It can immediately make me imagine colours, images, movements, characters, or a certain atmosphere.

Books are another huge source of inspiration. I love when someone finds language for a feeling or experience that I have struggled to put into words myself. Other artists and art forms inspire me deeply too, but so does everyday life: conversations, people, memories, relationships, the streets, the way someone carries themselves, or a small moment that might otherwise disappear.

A lot of my inspiration comes from paying attention. Sometimes the most ordinary thing becomes interesting when you look at it long enough.

What makes you stop and think, “I need to capture this”?

It is difficult to explain because it is mostly a feeling. I am very drawn to light, especially when it hits something in a way that creates beautiful shadows, brings out a texture, or completely changes the atmosphere of a place.

Colour is also very important to me. Sometimes two colours come together in a way that immediately draws me in. But it can also be a shape, an expression on someone’s face, a gesture, the energy between people, or the feeling of a particular moment.

It really depends on what I am seeing and how I am feeling at that time. There is not one fixed thing I am searching for. It is more like something catches my attention and creates a small emotional reaction in me. That is usually when I feel the need to preserve it.

What’s a piece of art, not your own, that you keep coming back to?

One of the works I keep returning to is All About Love by bell hooks. It is such an important book to me. Her writing gave words to things that I felt I already knew somewhere inside myself but had never been able or perhaps never dared to say out loud. It changed how I think about love, care, honesty, community, and the ways we relate to ourselves and to one another.

I also have to mention The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. That album has influenced me deeply. The honesty, storytelling, vulnerability, strength, and musicality within it are incredible. It feels like one of those works that can grow with you. Every time you return to it, you hear or understand something differently.

And once I start naming music, it becomes very difficult to stop. Erykah Badu is definitely part of that world for me as well.

What art piece are you the most proud of?

I am very proud of my photography project about connection, identity, roots, and culture. It brought together portraits of people who are important to me and allowed me to explore how identity can live within relationships, families, bodies, clothing, gestures, and the spaces people inhabit.

I am proud of it not only because of the final photographs, but because of everything the process required from me: listening, trusting my eye, working closely with people, and allowing the project to evolve beyond my original ideas.

I think I am often most proud of work that teaches me something while I am making it. This project reminded me that a photograph does not need to explain everything. It can hold tenderness, complexity, history, and ambiguity at the same time.

What are your essentials when you’re working?

Music is essential. I almost always have my earphones or headphones with me because music helps me enter a certain headspace and stay connected to the feeling of what I am making.

I also always carry a notebook and pens. I write down thoughts, sentences, visual ideas, questions, things I overhear, or anything I do not want to forget.

And, of course, I like to have something to photograph with. It does not necessarily have to be one particular camera, but I prefer using a separate device instead of only my phone. Using an actual camera makes the act of photographing feel more intentional. With a phone, it is very easy to become distracted and suddenly start scrolling or answering messages. A camera allows me to keep my attention on looking, noticing, and taking photographs.

Random one: If one thing could stay €1 forever, what would you pick?

Film, without hesitation. Film has become so expensive, and being able to buy a roll for €1 forever would be a dream. I would shoot everything.

I definitely agree! What is the most valuable lesson you have learned as an independent artist?

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is that you have to create more than you overthink. Ideas only begin to reveal themselves once you take action. You can spend a very long time imagining the perfect outcome, but the distance between what exists in your head and what you are actually capable of making only becomes smaller through practice.

I have also learned how important it is to trust your own eye and your own interests. That trust takes time, especially when you are surrounded by so many opinions and images, but your perspective is one of the most valuable things you have.

At the same time, I do not believe artists are meant to do everything alone. The people who support you, believe in you, challenge you, listen to you, and remind you why you started are incredibly important. Friends, family, collaborators, and community all become part of the process. Finding your people can change everything. Independence does not have to mean isolation.

What’s a tiny thing that instantly makes your day better?

Dancing and singing along to good music in my room, very loudly. Music can completely shift my mood and energy. It can put life back into me within a few seconds.

I love dancing when I am home alone, but honestly, sometimes even when I am walking through the streets, I have to stop myself from fully performing whatever song is playing in my headphones.

Tell us something to inspire the future.

Create. Take action on your ideas, even when you do not feel completely ready and even when you are not yet as good as you would like to be.

Do not pressure yourself to master something immediately. Make things, experiment, stay curious, and allow yourself to be a beginner. It can be difficult to start, and it can feel scary to be vulnerable, to share your work, or to make something without knowing how it will be received. But creating something that feels honest and meaningful to you is more important than immediately producing something that looks impressive in the eyes of others.

Try to enjoy the process. Being able to express yourself is such a gift, and it is something worth being grateful for. You have a voice, ideas, feelings, and the ability to turn them into something. Use that possibility and make the most of it.

Do not let the resources you have or do not have stop you. Let them become part of your creativity. Work with what is available to you, because limitations can also lead you somewhere unexpected.

The gap between the work you imagine and the work you are currently able to make will only become smaller by continuing to practise, play, experiment, and take risks. Be proud of yourself for continuing to create, no matter how big or small the things you make may be.