Tom Lyon

Image from “Arena” project by Tom Lyon

Biography

Website: https://www.tomlyon.be/

Tom Lyon is a Belgian visual artist born in 1999. A graduate of Septantecinq, he is currently pursuing a Master's degree in visual arts at KASK School of Arts. Early in his career, he challenged the individualistic nature of photography by forming a duo with Pauline Vanden Neste. Together, they lead a long-term project on gentrification dynamics around the Brussels canal. Their book On est venus ici pour la vue was published in 2021 (Éditions la CAB). In parallel, he develops a body of work (Arena) on migration, the increasing criminalization of migrants, and European policies.

The project

“Arena” seeks to shed light on individual and personal stories related to migration and its criminalization, while simultaneously questioning the imagery and narratives surrounding European border politics and control.

In a sea of violent images we are confronted with daily through our phone screens, Tom Lyon proposes a reevaluation of certain events and locations by creating a new semiology of the image—a semiology that fosters reflection, empathy, and dialogue, by actively seeking out and sustaining a space for stories that challenge dominant and accepted narratives.

In response to the imagery presented in the media, Lyon’s approach to image-making aims to create room for a different visual language to enter and reshape perspectives surrounding migration. His images document personal stories, lived experiences, and reveal narratives that remain on the margins.

Through research and the incorporation of found media imagery into his work, Lyon confronts specific cases related to European migration and sea rescues in the Mediterranean, bringing various contemporary discourses into dialogue and adding a layer to his practice in which questioning the image itself becomes central.

Image from “Arena” project by Tom Lyon

Image from “Arena” project by Tom Lyon

“Arena” invites us to reflect on the spectacle embedded in the relationship between migration and politics, encouraging viewers to step into the arena, to confront, and to reassess their own position within this discourse. By reevaluating what is centered and what remains peripheral, the images offer a space for unheard stories to be told, for other realities to be seen, and perhaps, for actions to be taken.