The most touching email we have received recently, it comes from a photographer, Christophe Jacrot – JJN
Good morning,
You have a fairly central position in the small world of photography, I understand that you appreciate my work.
It is for this reason that I allow myself to open up to you.
Indeed, I am on the brink of giving up photography, If the real support of two good galleries in Paris and Geneva still carries me a little, (very good sales last November in Paris, some prints went abroad , in the USA in particular); Encouraged by these sales abroad, I contacted over a hundred galleries around the world.
None of these galleries, even the smallest (except one or two who probably did not look at anything) deigned to respond, not even a polite refusal!! This is extremely distressing, in addition to the extreme rudeness that it represents. These silences plunge me into very violent doubts!
I know they are in great demand. but I think that these requests are brushed aside with contempt.
But how do publishers take the time to read hundreds of 300-page manuscripts??!
Maybe I don’t understand anything about photography anymore, or probably my work is weak or even shitty or totally old-fashioned, or not conceptual enough. Probably my work is not up to par with their artists.
I can’t shake this feeling anymore, it’s terrible. I can’t work anymore. I have lost my bearings, yet my books sell well, the many compliments received from buyers no longer help me much. Perhaps I have to accept a sad truth:
The “profession” doesn’t want me! The galleries that I consider to be of good quality completely ignore me (the argument of my past sales is useless). Their silence is violent.
I am even more invisible to festivals organisers (with the exception of a single Belgian festival, Arlon), I don’t even talk about institutions. I don’t contact them anyway. I must come across as a nice amateur in their eyes.
My working life has lasted 15 years and I think represents a body of work that exists formally and emotionally, if I are to believe the hundred or so articles obtained!
My photos, seemingly simple, seem to reach the public, but that really doesn’t interest the professionals in the field.
In short, I don’t fit into the mold!!
I have a lot more to say, but I prefer to stop there.
Christophe Jacrot
