In 2008, the journalist, critic and publisher Rémi Coignet launched Des Livres et des photos, a blog specializing in photography books, hosted by the online edition of the French newspaper Le Monde. In addition to serving as editor-in-chief of the magazine The Eyes, Coignet has written for several national and international publications, including Les Inrockuptibles, The Photobook Review and Polka. To mark the release of Coignet’s new collection of interviews with photographers and photography book specialists, we sat down with him a few days before Christmas in the middle of his sumptuous library.
Fanny Lambert: Can you tell me, first, in what context these interviews were conducted?
Rémi Coignet: Most often, I take advantage of the fact that so many photographers come through Paris. I see them at Paris Photo, Arles and the different festivals I attend. Last September, for example, I conducted an interview at the Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam. Less often, I go to meet the artists. That was the case for Broomberg & Chanarin. The opportunity arose and I hopped on the Eurostar to London.
When did you decide to collect all your interviews?
At first, it was something personal intended for my blog, Des livres et des photos. Others were published in The Eyes. I had been writing about photography books for years and I had so many questions about how photographers work. Sometimes the questions were silly. For example, why does Pieter Hugo desaturate his photographs so much? I told myself that other people probably had the same questions. We don’t hear a lot of what photographers have to say about their work. Lots of people talk on their behalf—curators, critics, journalists—but we rarely hear from the photographers themselves.
And when did you decide to release them in a book? You’ve been working on it since 2011, correct?
It happened rather quickly. After two years or so, I started thinking that there was an interesting body of work, but it wasn’t big enough. That’s when the idea was born: when it was ready, I could make it into a book. It was around then that a publisher—not, it turns out, the final publisher—told me, “You should think about publishing it.” But what really prompted me to gather the interviews was the relationships I saw between the different artists. For example, Rob Hornstra had worked with Kummer & Herrman, two Dutch graphic artists. Raphaël Dallaporta, too. And I have an interview with Kummer & Herrman, one with Hornstra and another with Dallaporta. Hornstra published his last book with Aperture—and it just so happens that I have an interview with Lesley A. Martin, who published the latest JH Engström. And so on.
Do you feel like the book offers an overview of contemporary photography?
Absolutely.
And that it’s representative of a generation?
I don’t think it’s linked to a generation. There’s people of all ages in the book: from relatively young people like Raphaël Dallaporta—who can’t be over forty—to the late Lewis Baltz. Many of them are mid-career: Broomberg & Chanarin, Elina Brotherus, Pieter Hugo. But, yes, the goal was to make it about people involved with photography books because it let me establish connections throughout the work. For the photography book book, there’s a whole body of work. As you may have noticed, I keep a lot of books here. Otherwise I go to the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. Take Anders Petersen, for example. I don’t think I’ve seen all of his exhibitions. I don’t think anyone has… Now you understand why there aren’t many young photographers in the book. My interviews are mostly about looking back over a career.
You’re considered an expert in the photo book world. Are you a collector yourself?
I wouldn’t say that I’m a collector, but I’m not a speculator, either. For example, I didn’t purchase Cristina de Middel’s Afronautes because it didn’t really fit my aesthetic sensibilities. But I could have made a fortune selling it today!
You mention several times the idea of “engaged” photography, especially in your interview with Lewis Baltz. Do you think that the photography book is a way to stay engaged?
I think the photography book is a place where all approaches to photography are possible since the format is serial. It’s not just a single image from Worldpress saying, “It’s terrible what’s happening in Syria.” With a book, there’s room to develop a viewpoint through the series of images.
Can you tell me about the parallels you observe between Japanese and Scandinavian photography?
Of course, because it’s just that: an observation. When I see an Anders Petersen, it makes me think of Daido Moriyama, and when I see some Engström, the influence is there, too. It’s in the framing, the grain, etc.
And high contrasts.
Very high contrasts. Of course, I don’t ask Daido Moriyama if he’s influenced by Nordic photography. But when I have the opportunity to talk to one of these photographers, I ask them if they feel close to Japanese photography or what they think about the relationship. Not a single one has ever said, “No, no, not at all.” All of them, in one way or another, even if they can’t recognize the cause, can recognize the connection.
Are these connections your subjective way to consider and/or reflect on photography?
Yes, that’s how I do it. Someone else might not see it. But I always start with fairly basic questions about a work. I pose the question to myself, then to the photographer.
This interview has been greatly condensed in English. Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
BOOK
Conversations par Rémi Coignet
The Eyes Publishing
broché, 256 pages
Design : Magali Peretti
Interviews with: Morten Andersen, Irène Attinger, Lewis Baltz, Daniel Blaufuks, Broomberg & Chanarin, Elina Brotherus, Raphaël Dallaporta, JH Engström, Bernard Faucon, Horacio Fernández, Paul Graham, Guido Guidi, Rob Hornstra, Pieter Hugo, Kummer & Herrman, Syb, Eva Leitolf, Ethan Levitas, Michael Mack, Lesley A. Martin, Daido Moriyama, Mathieu Pernot, Anders Petersen, Joachim Schmid, Ivan Vartanian.
http://deslivresetdesphotos.blog.lemonde.fr/author/deslivresetdesphotos/
