Flea Marketing in Brussels

Brussels is an under-rated city. Too often visitors get no further than the Grand Place; wonderful in its mediaeval, cobbled self but giving little sense of the vibrant, multi-cultural city that awaits the more intrepid - perhaps akin to judging London on a single visit to Trafalgar Square!

I had the good fortune to live and work in Brussels for a year: 2019 - which I will now forever think of as the year before we were struck down by Covid, and the world shifted on its axis. While work was busy and I became well-acquainted with the Eurostar, my extended stay also offered time for exploration - and to pursue photography.

Jeu de Balle Flea Market, Brussels

The Jeu de Balle in the Marolles district of Brussels claims to be the only flea market in the world that is open every day. It is certainly there every morning, with Thursdays and Fridays seeming to attract the most interesting range of market sellers and things for sale.

Like many photographers, I am drawn to markets. Traders themselves always seem to be intriguing characters, particularly as they interact with their customers. Although I have also sensed in recent years, that some stall-holders have become less tolerant of us snappers and it is best to try to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

In the case of the Jeu de Balle, over the course of a number of visits, I found people to be generally accepting of me wandering around, enjoying and appreciating the atmosphere while trying to capture the essence of this unique market. The occasional purchase also did not come amiss.

Many of my images capture the people who come to the market: the traders, the buyers, the occasional musicians and the ever-busy café staff. But of all the images I made during my time in Brussels, it is this ‘still life’ image of a stall selling antique silver that I find amongst the handful with which I am satisfied.

I feel that it works because, like many of my favourite images, it is not immediately obvious what it is. The viewer will quickly see that the image comprises a jumble of old cutlery. But after that, questions arise. Why is the cutlery arranged as it is? How did it come to be like that? Where is it? Whose was it? And so on.

I also enjoy this image because it speaks of my enjoyment and response to the Jeu de Balle market. I remember the antique silver scattered casually but enticingly across an old, dark rug. I can hear and see the woman who ran the stall closing a sale a few feet from where I was standing.

But then I also think the image intrigues more deeply because it not only captures that moment in time, but also suggests times past when meals were eaten more formally and punctuated the day. It was a world that seemed to have more time to enjoy socialising around a dinner table and pride was taken in the ownership of even the most mundane household items. This was not a fast-moving, disposable world but a more considered time. And then I find myself wondering about the people who originally owned this cutlery and the houses where it was used.

So I hope it is ultimately this sense of intrigue, and the thoughts this might lead to, that satisfies in this image. It is a story of a place and of times past - and perhaps offers a thought on who we are today.