Moving into a new house, becoming a father, leaving COVID… Jean-Luc Feixa’s book Pamuk is the photographic diary of a special year, rich in small and large intimate revolutions.
Pamuk is a journey to the heart of this harmony, a visual journey to a new home, a journey through the four seasons, the time to see the birth of happiness, a journey guided by a protective cat: Pamuk. A magnificent wooden staircase that seems to stretch across the grey Brussels sky, a baroque place, coloured in a thousand shades and bathed in light as soft as cotton. A new house chosen on a whim, which becomes a place for photographic experimentation and a privileged witness to the first steps of a new arrival.
“For a year, life outside came to a standstill for my wife and me, forcing our bodies and minds to stretch away from foreign distractions. Over the course of four seasons, we discovered the beauties and charms of our immediate surroundings, this new house where we settled on the day of our first confinement. Isolated from family and friends, the two of us prepared a nest for three, using the long time we had found to create this cosy bed.
While a mysterious evil lurked outside, a low-key but continuous party reigned in our home. An ode to waiting, then a celebration of new life. Paradoxically, this motionless journey allowed us to reopen our eyes to beauty, simple pleasures, love and endless days. An enchanted interlude at a time when the world was falling apart.
To flesh out this carnal tale, Jean-Luc Feixa opted for risography printing. By superimposing four layers of colour, this technique gives each of the 100 copies a unique touch, an artisanal, tactile quality. Like the immortalised seasons, the books breathe life, have an incomparable aesthetic, and are bathed in a slightly hazy atmosphere enhanced by touches of gold, mauve and midnight blue.
The book was designed in collaboration with the Antwerp studio Double Design, and printed by the Boekenberg studio. It is printed on a magnificent Fedrigoni paper that gives the project all its character. The cover is printed on Materica Acqua paper, a blend of cotton, recycled and virgin fibres offering a soft blue-grey colour reminiscent of Pamuk’s fur, the story’s eponymous guide.
Jean-Luc Feixa
A native of south-west France, Jean-Luc Feixa began photography in his teens on the advice of his grandfather, the figurative painter André Graciès. Initially oriented towards photojournalism and current affairs, his approach has evolved over the last few years towards long-term auteur work.
He composes his series in advance, thinking about the possible images to combine with his texts. In his work, there are few photos taken on the fly, but rather compositions that illustrate his ideas for graphic narratives. Convinced that technique should be at the service of writing, he enjoys juggling with tools and media to better serve his favourite themes: the family, everyday life, the memory of places and the traces left by man on his environment.
His series are essentially biographical, revealing bits and pieces of the intimate. In Hunt, for example, he captures in a cloak of mist the Pyrenean landscapes of his childhood, lands fertile with memories. In Pamuk, he tells the story of a happy family in camera, punctuated by the anticipation of a birth.
Jean-Luc Feixa is a member of the Salamandre collective, which aims to promote various cultural projects in his native region. His work has been published several times in the international press and exhibited in Belgium, France and the United Arab Emirates. He is the author of the photo book Strange Things Behind Belgian Windows, published by Luster.
More information
Jean-Luc Feixa – Pamuk
Published by Pamuk, 2023
With poems by Claude McKay, Matsuo Basho, Emily Brontë and William Butler Yeats
100 numbered and signed copies,
19 x 27 cm, 35 pages
35 €
Available in good bookshops and online
Information
Editions Pamuk
Paris, France
October 01, 2023 to November 30, 2023
