ABOUT

Asper describes the beauty of the Belgian countryside, but the oppression of small town life is never far away. In the images, there is the delight I felt - for I had finally found the rural idyll that I was looking for. At the same time loneliness, longing and the silence of the people are always there, lurking beneath the surface.

Asper is a dreamy portrait of a tiny village in Flemish Belgium. Ms. Bueno's camera floats, for example, above a tangle of green forest , a sunny backyard plot with a child and his toys, a midday river picnic, and an empty street at night. As fanciful as it is non-fictional, Asper is also equal parts tender and regretful: through the nostalgia, "the oppressive feeling of living in a small rural community is never far away. The quiet idyll might turn to melancholy, or loneliness, or fear."