Joke Timmermans is a Belgian photographer, journalist and lecturer with a deep rooted passion for words, images and arts. Her photographic style is dynamic and diverse: from street scenes to telling portrait series.
LISTEN UP!
She didn’t pick up a camera until her thirties. And yet, it looks like she never did anything else.
In this new episode of De Donkere Kamer, Kaat sits down with Joke Timmermans, journalist and teacher, who slows down when the world speeds up. They talk about what it means to really look. About an exhibition that cost years of savings and was worth every cent. About New York, Thailand and a husband who is her biggest supporter, from a safe distance.
“When everything speeds up, my instinct is not to speak louder. But to slow down.” — Joke
Joke is the kind of person you want to sit across from for hours. Recorded live at Fotodag 2026 in Thor Park, on invitation of Foto Robyns. This episode is in Dutch.
EXPO
ZO 22.03.2026 < VR 08.05.2026
JOKE TIMMERMANS FOTOGRAFEERT
Van waar ik sta | From Where I Stand
Opening 22.03.2026, 17:00
Introduction: Mark Coenen
Beeldspraak: Stijn Meuris
Opening hours: www.ccmaasmechelen.be
Press release: here
Movie about New York, 2020
PIET STOCKMANS
Verhalen
achter de scherven
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Piet Stockmans, Verhalen achter de scherven - written and photographed by journalist and photographer Joke Timmermans, brings together fragmented memories, personal confessions, and compelling images. The result: not a classic biography, but a mosaic of stories that bring Stockmans, the man and the artist, closer than ever.
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Send an email to joketimmermans@me.com
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LEZING
Donum Antwerpen
16 mei 2026, 11u, 13uLEZING
Inti Lightning Brugge
21 februari 2026, 11u, 14, 16uLEZING
Centre Ceramique Maastricht
17 januari 2026, 14uLEZING
Klaarchitectuur Sint-Truiden
13 december 2025, 14uLEZING
Standaard Boekhandel Hasselt
6 december 2025, 14uLANCERING
Studio Pieter Stockmans
18 november 2025, 11u, 13u, 16u
EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
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EXPO
'Drag' - 10.07 < 13.09.2025
Photographer and journalist Joke Timmermans portrayed seven drag performers through striking images and personal testimonies. Their stories are raw, honest, and surprisingly relatable. They reveal drag performers as human beings of flesh and blood—each with their own path, identity, and struggle. The exhibition DRAG challenges clichés and uncovers who truly lies behind the makeup: intelligent, courageous, and beautiful people who push boundaries and break taboos.
Expo ‘Drag’
Bibliotheek Hasselt Limburg
10.07 < 13.09.2025 -
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EXPO
'Sichtbar Machen' - 14.09 < 30.10.2025
In 2018, while wandering the streets of Manhattan, Joke Timmermans crosses paths with the free-spirited 80-year-old Liz Friedman—and something special unfolds: a friendship. Liz is a model, influencer, activist, and jewelry designer. Gradually, over the years, she allows the photographer—forty years her junior—into her extravagant world. The camera captures their growing bond: from carefully staged portraits to spontaneous, intimate moments.
Group exhibition ‘SICHTBAR MACHEN’
Cultureel Centrum Hasselt
14.09 < 30.10.2025 -
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BOOK
Book Launch – October 17, 2025
For over six decades, Belgian porcelain artist Piet Stockmans has shaped an extraordinary body of work — from royal tableware to radical experiments. On the eve of his 85th birthday, he joins writer and photographer Joke Timmermans to tell his story. Not a classic biography, but fragments — shards that together sketch an intimate, imperfect, and deeply human portrait. Richly illustrated with archival images and Timmermans’ own photography.
Book launch, 17.10.2025
Studio Pieter Stockmans
Publisher Hopper & Fuchs -
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EXPO
‘From 'Where I stand', 22.03 < 08.05.2026
From Where I Stand, Joke Timmermans presents two worlds: her own home and life in New York. With tireless curiosity and a sharp, intuitive eye, she explores these places. She seeks out disarming moments—whether in portraits, street scenes, orstill lifes. Her images may appear orchestrated, yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Expo ‘From where I stand’
Cultureel Centrum Maasmechelen
22.03 < 08.05.2025
Introduction: Mark Coenen
Beeldspraak: Stijn Meuris
SELF-PORTRAITS
The series ‘Portraits from Home’ are self-portraits that were created in the summer of 2020 and are a profound search for light, color, form and composition in the photographers own house.
Self-portrait in doorway.
Self-portrait on stairs.
Self-portrait in bath.
“From now on I am the proud owner of one of the most beautiful pictures I ever saw: ‘Girl on the subway’ of Joke Timmermans.”
– Bart D, buyer
STILL LIFES
In Old Master Pieces, the photographer ties in with themes related to the metaphors of the old still life tradition. She extracts contemporary, universal objects out of their primordial context, and places them in a framework that evokes the atmosphere of the old masters from the 15th-18th century. In her photo studio she retains the freedom to experiment with composition, lighting, texture and form.
In Reproductions, she didn't just create copies of her house's paintings; she captured their true essence. After all, reality is in constant flux—light shifts, perspectives evolve, and shadows and colors dance. These reproductions reflect the ever-changing beauty of art.