Living and working by the North Sea, Belgian graphic designer and typographer Ann Maelfeyt explores language as both a visual and poetic medium. Her project With A Grain Of Salt forms part of a solo exhibition opening on March 5th 2026, presenting her graphic design and photography as a portrait of how she thinks, observes, and works.
Drawing from coastal life and a distinctly Belgian sense of surrealism, Maelfeyt transforms words into rhythm, repetition, and subtle visual play. Rather than relying on imagery to evoke place, she demonstrates how typography alone can carry atmosphere and emotion. In her hands, letters become tide lines, sounds echo like waves, and spacing creates breath.
The exhibition brings together typography, image, and materiality across different mediums, reflecting an intuitive and process-driven practice. Inspiration often begins with words themselves: their shapes, their sounds, and the associations that surface when writing them down or speaking them aloud. Language is not treated as fixed meaning, but as something tactile and fluid.
Blue runs quietly throughout the body of work, acting as a constant thread that mirrors the sea’s presence in her daily life. The North Sea is not depicted directly but felt through tone, restraint, and repetition. There is a sense of openness and air, balanced with a subtle wink that hints at Belgium’s surrealist lineage.
Maelfeyt describes her approach simply: “Always keep your eyes open. Keep watching, watch closely. What you pick up along the way can become something else.” That attentiveness shapes the exhibition. It is less about spectacle and more about observation, about noticing what might otherwise be overlooked.
After graduating from Sint-Lucas Ghent, Maelfeyt spent over twenty years working as an art director in creative agencies before founding her independent studio, La fille du bord de mer, in 2021. The name translates to “the girl by the seaside,” a fitting reflection of her way of working. Like a beachcomber, she collects words, images, and objects, allowing them to evolve into typographic compositions that feel both poetic and grounded.
With A Grain Of Salt shows how typography can hold memory, place, and emotion without illustration. Through rhythm, repetition, and careful attention, Maelfeyt turns language into landscape.
The solo exhibition opens on March 5th 2026.
More information:
https://www.la-fille-du-bord-de-mer.be
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ann_maelfeyt_graphic_designer/
