Còrrec Sec (2023)

In 2023, the region of Pyrénées-Orientales in the South of France experienced the worst drought in decades. These record events seem to become more frequent and gradually more extreme.

I used the idea of increasing aridity, temperature and insolation to develop the look of the images in this series called ‘Còrrec Sec’, Catalan for ‘Dry Creek’. How would the inevitably increasing warming impact this landscape? What would it look and feel like in the future? I noticed that plants that usually have green leaves started to become yellowish, and decided to amplify the visual impact of the lack of water in mountain streams, fields, and rivers of the plain in my photographs.

The beauty of the resulting images contrasts with the implied hostility of the landscape.

05/04/2023

Kedi Evleri Istanbul

05/04/2023

Sedan — to the limits of the city

05/04/2023

Kedi Evleri Istanbul

Kedi Evleri Istanbul (2019-2022)

The millions of cats living in Istanbul are not pets. They are collective companions, fed and cared for by residents of the city’s neighbourhoods. ‘Kedi Evleri’ is Turkish for ‘cat houses’. This series focuses on cat shelters provided either by benevolent individuals or by the municipality. From prefabricated constructions, artisanal houses, and simple boxes with a cushion, these shelters testify to the love that the inhabitants of Istanbul have for their cats.

05/04/2023

Sedan

Sedan — to the limits of the city (2021)

Sedan is a city of about 16.000 inhabitants situated in the north of France, close to the Belgian border. In Spring 2021, photography festival organiser ‘Urbi & Orbi — photography biennale’ and the Luxembourgian ‘Clervaux – Cité de l’image’ invited me to be artist in residence in Sedan.
Sedan was a famous cloth-manufacturing centre in the 16th and 17th centuries and later hosted various other industries. Due to its location and prosperity, the city gained in military importance. After centuries of successful development, the city’s population started to steadily decline after the 1970s. The local council decided to study the causes of this downturn and in 2013 proposed its sustainable planning and development project (P.A.D.D.). I used two aspects mentioned in this document as a thematic guidance for this project. Neighbourhood specificity, urban sprawl and historic evolution of the city became the main threads of the series. I photographed both from the city centre to its outskirts, and from the historic quarters to new developments.

01/12/2020

The New Towns (Book and archival print)

This offer is for both The New Towns book (signed on request) and a signed print. The print is pigment ink on archival baryta paper and comes in size 28x21cm.

The New Towns book explores the first wave of New Towns near London. These towns were built in England immediately after the Second World War to relocate populations who lost their homes. They aimed to create a welcoming space, with walkable distances between homes, work, shops, cultural offerings and green spaces. Construction had to progress quickly and needed to stay affordable.

The book starts with scenes from traditional city centres. While the original architecture is mostly preserved here, contemporary chains and smaller independents shops feature widely throughout.

In the traditional residential neighbourhoods contemporary elements are rarer. The houses show the marks of their history. I enjoyed seeing the DIY home improvements that pop up in several pictures.

The series then transitions to the more recent residential developments and finally over to newly-built city centres.

Over seven decades the economic climate has fluctuated, political ideas have changed and new social aspirations have superseded the dreams of previous generations.

Today, while the New Towns preserve some of their initial character, their identity is nonetheless shifting in favour of more and more national and international elements.

01/12/2020

The New Towns

The book starts with scenes from traditional city centres. While the original architecture is mostly preserved here, contemporary chains and smaller independents shops feature widely throughout.

In the traditional residential neighbourhoods contemporary elements are rarer. The houses show the marks of their history. I enjoyed seeing the DIY home improvements that pop up in several pictures.

The series then transitions to the more recent residential developments and finally over to newly-built city centres.

Over seven decades the economic climate has fluctuated, political ideas have changed and new social aspirations have superseded the dreams of previous generations.

Today, while the New Towns preserve some of their initial character, their identity is nonetheless shifting in favour of more and more national and international elements.

14/09/2020

The Great Disruption

14/09/2020

The Great Disruption

The Great Disruption (2020)

In 1340, John I of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg, founded the Schueberfouer as a market in Luxembourg city. Over the next 679 years the event transformed into one of the largest travelling funfairs in Europe, attracting up to two million visitors. The fair has since then been cancelled only in 1915, during the First World War.

The fair is one of the cultural highlights in Luxembourg and has been proposed for inclusion on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.

As a preventive measure against the viral disease COVID-19, Schueberfouer had to be cancelled in 2020. The council of Luxembourg City replaced the festival with decentralised small funfair attractions in nine different neighbourhoods of the city.

I decided to photograph all of these sites: Place de la Constitution, Rue de Strasbourg, Merl Park, Place Jeanne d’Arc, Place de Roedgen, Laval Park, Place August Laurent, Place Thorn and Kinnekswiss Park.