On May 21st, 1981, I entered the Elysée … for my first moment in history! The assumption of office of François Mitterrand then elected President of the Republic.
On May 21, 2021, I went out for a drink on the terrace of a cafe after a year working in the health perimeters of a pandemic that was also historic.
40 years of a career that has given me to see, to experience the world. Its miseries, its heartbreaks, its wars. Great moments of hope too. Through my photographs, I wanted to constantly bear witness, to bring “evidence” through images, to work for History, to act in memory.
Forty years traveling the world with a sole leitmotif that of testifying, of questioning myself on the very notion of showing, of trying to engage the reader, to make him stop, to question himself, to push him to react without being able to bring him Answer. Just the facts. Always force myself to respect the dignity of the people photographed, because they are the ones who will remain in history books and enter museums. Then, to be confronted with the violence of conflict, sometimes absurdity. Then man loses his sanity and gives way to his most animal need: survival.
Find me at Visa pour l’image with an exhibition of 55 images. And don’t forget if you want a collector’s journal with full and double pages it’s here: https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/eric-bouvet-40-ans-de-photojournalisme
Eric Bouvet
