Collection of black and white analog photographs taken between 1980 and 1985, portraits of friends or strangers encountered in the streets of Paris, scenes gleaned at random but with a formal desire for composition, débutantes presents the first photos of photographer Jacques Graf. “Sleeping Beauties” never shown before, they retrace the poetic and melancholy journey of a young Parisian at the dawn of his career and his love life. A beginner. And beginners: these young women who are entering the world and whose name the photographer has forgotten; these first photographs in the career of a photographer, beginning in photography as in life. Accompanied by a text by the author, these photographs question the veracity of memory and the function of photography in the construction of a story. But what do the photographs tell us? Is the memory a certainty? Is the truth essential?
“Initially we take pictures to impress the girls, initially we take pictures for the impression it will make on them, initially we take pictures to remember.” Jacques Graf.
From the years of high school, photography attracted the very young Jacques Graf as we sometimes attract musical notes that we try to remember. Too shy to simply meet others, he then used photography to see better, to try to retain impressions as well as to transfigure his daily life and build his life around this project. Since the mid-1980s, Jacques Graf has worked passionately for the press (L’Obs, Journal du Dimanche, Paris-Match, Der Spiegel, Focus, der Bild, Marianne, Madame Figaro, etc.) and rigor. In 1994, he joined the Editing photo agency, then joined Fedephoto in 2002. The same year, he co-founded the Divergence-Images agency, of which he was president until 2017. His works are exhibited in French and foreign festivals.
Jacques Graf : debutantes
Éditions Revelatœr
Distribution Art & Paper – Saveca
112 pages
Format 15 x 21 cm
ISBN : 978-2-493152-05-3
Prix : 30 € TTC
www.revelatœr.com
