Figures, faces

As early as 2017, photographer Cyrus Cornut, in his iconic report on Chinese megalopolises, sounded the alarm. Soon all human presence will be reduced to a tiny but heroic figure opposing at all costs the destruction of its territory and its memory. In an almost retrofuturistic way, this selection takes this theme of the “homo urbanus” of present and future times as a red thread. Whether it is a direct look (Tom Spach) or a digital reconstruction (Yongliang Yang), everything confirms the devastating effects of unlimited urbanization. And yet these works fascinate us as much as they frighten us. The motif of the staircase which rises to the heights (Tom Spach, Othmane Bencheqroun) or descends to the depths (Vincent Tanguy, Juliette Larochette) becomes an almost metaphysical experience. Just like the crossing of two people in the middle of an improbable crossroads seized by Blue XIII. And even when the human figure is not visible in the image, as for Xavier Dumoulin's gas station, we nevertheless perceive its presence. Is it there in the depths of the grain of the image like Antonioni's famous film "Blow Up", or will it arrive the next second like in Hitchcock's thrillers? Thanks to the virtuosity of his pictorial technique, Gaëtan Dubroca immerses us in the universe of those who resist in the heart of the rubble. Will we know how to be attentive to what the reality of the world expresses to us?