J'étais là (Signed by both)

Stéphane Duroy
J'étais là (Signed by both)

Photographs: Stéphane Duroy & Paulo Nozolino

Text: Guillevic

Publisher: Editions Gwinzegal

32 pages

Year: 2015

Comments: Softcover, japanese binding, 270 x 190 mm. First edition, 2015. Signed by both photographers. New.

‘Stéphane Duroy and Paulo Nozolino share the attitude – which is characterised by mistrust – with regard to photography as a medium for showing the world in all its complexity. Unsparing vistas, an aversion of large dimensions, and the bare simplicity of their images characterise both artists’ photographic depiction of central Brittany. These works consciously explore the “disqualified” elements of a regional identity that is predominantly expressed in folkloristic and pictorial narratives,’

‘The remaining vestiges of a normal life pushed to the fringe narrate a completely different “story” about the world of a primarily agricultural society that is slowly disappearing. By doing so, this questions the values of our modern, anthropocentric and “virtualised” social structures. In their work, the photographers closely examine a rural area of central Brittany. The appearance of the region is characterised by the increasingly greater dimensions of industrialised farming units, the numbers of which are, however, in constant decline – each accompanied by villages that seem to have lost their will to live.

Paulo Nozolino’s images are remarkably intense and rich in contrast – and, in some cases, tend towards the abstract. They altogether provide a forecast of further societal development. By consciously omitting any clear identification in terms of location, the works transgress strictly geographical boundaries and become valid for regions far beyond the bounds of central Brittany.

In his work, Stéphane Duroy addresses concrete themes such as time, the uniqueness of locations and the meaning of religious belief – and he even journeys into the realm of photojournalism. By mixing colour and monochrome images, the work of Stéphane Duroy – which always strives to depict realities with the greatest possible precision – illustrates the multiple facets of the artist’s subjects with revelations that are anything but clear’.

Paul Cottin

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